Falling Stars

[Zatchibana]

[Just a little intro story as to how Jux got to RK, thought I'd post it here too since I spent a while working on it.]

Part One:

"...not the light, but the darkness." Master Tien spoke to the two within the class in a husky voice; deepened by experience and the wisdom that they knew lay behind it.

"Ling, rise." Tien turned to the smallest of the two; her size was by no means a dampener on her ability but instead served to facade an opponents belief to defeat her.

She bowed forward slowly, pressing her hands together one closed fist, the latter; an open palm.

"Nine long years have you endured the trials of the House of Tien," Master Tien stepped forward and looked the robed individual up and down.
"Your past is your guide, what do you believe of your future?"

Ling kept her eyes focused intently on the floor. "I believe in the ability to defend."

"Go on."

"The ability to hold one's heart at bay, bring forth the guardian and let the sun be my guide."

Tien smiled, if only minutely. "Very good." He turned on his heels and walked towards the back of the room. The wall slowly illuminated as he approached it, torn scrolls and tattered writs affixed to it.

"Before you, are the last scrolls of the House of Tien."

Ling nodded, staying where she was.

Tien pointed down to the far left, be it only ten feet away. "Each scroll defined a belief and an ideal. Morally binding, honourably upheld."

"First: The scroll of distinction. Ling: Define it."

It was at this point that she looked up, and met eyes with her master. "Distinction; No member of the House of Tien may celebrate their victories. Unsung heroes; fighters of the shadows. Relinquishing our names, and releasing in death."

Tien nodded and moved to the next one:

"Second: The scroll of Binding. Define it."

"Binding: No Member of the House of Tien may carry a ranged or melee weapon. Our art is of fists and feet, to wrap them around a physical object is to limit ourselves."

Master Tien smiled and thought on that scroll for a moment, perhaps considering it to be of more value to Ling than his other student.

"The Third Scroll: Worth."

"No Student may put a price to his services, his friends are free, like him and he desires no funds or worldly possessions except that which to clothe."

"The Forth is that of the way of peace. Define it."

"The way of peace is one not to be toyed with, we are upholders; guardians and defenders. We prove ourselves by removing chaos, not creating it."

Master Tien stepped away from the scrolls for a moment and eyed Ling carefully.

"What have you learnt from that scroll, Ling?"

"Master...I have learnt that to prove one's self; they must wait for a time. Creating chaos and then defeating it is not peace. It is chaos."

"and finally, the scroll of belief."

Ling took in a breath from the luke warm air of the room. "Belief; ones abilities are not limited by their body. Focussing on a task allows you to complete it. Focussing on one's mind allows you to overcome it's barriers. Believe and achieve."

Master Tien nodded slowly. "So you have understood the five scrolls and learnt much on your journey. Your time has come; for you to receive your title."

Ling stepped forward somewhat anxiously. "What of my title master?"

"Your actions define you, and the path you have taken has made you the person you are today. Furious Ling, arise."

Ling opened her eyes somewhat wide and eyed Tien carefully. She nodded slowly, barely managing a "thank you."

* * *

"Furious?!?" Ling shouted, slamming her fist into her bunk.

Her fellow student eyed her carefully. "Master Tien said that our actions define us, your path has made you who you are today."

Ling stepped up to her student. "Don't...get involved Jay. It's not your fight."

He looked down on his fellow student carefully. "Calm yourself."

"Calm?" Ling turned towards one of the metal walls of their room and launched her fist.

Her fist never met the wall. In fact; Jay had stopped the fist before it had a chance. "Do not take out your anger on this room, take it out on me if you must."

She shook her head. "I won't fight you. Not like this."

[Zatchibana]

Part Two:

Jay was woken by the sound of banging on his door. He bolted out of bed and made for the door. "Yes?" He said, putting his head around the door.

Xan Weish looked up at his fellow student nervously. "Jay. Master Tien wants to see you immediately."

Jay replied with a simple nod and gave himself a few moments to get ready before heading down to the Dojo. The corridors themselves were bare, rusted and old. Creaking from corners or whenever the ship made a harsh turn.

The Lian-Sheng Cargovessel was Six-hundred feet long, two hundred wide and tall enough to house a Family of Eremites. Enroute to an outpost in sector Kai-Nine-Five , it was to be the day that would change it's crew forever.

"Master?" The tall student stood before him, looking down slowly at the seated man.

"Do you understand the scrolls?" Tien asked, rising to his feet.

"Yes Master Tien." He replied, a small smile on his face.

The teacher moved to the end of the room and waited by the first scroll. "Then what are you?"

"I am a guardian, a defender born not of the light, but the darkness." The tall individual looked down the wall to the first scroll.

"Six years you have endured the trials of the House of Tien. Your past as your guide, what do you believe of your future?"

"I believe in the ability to defend Master." Jay stared forward intently, eyes on the wall before him. He continued as his master nodded him to do so. "The ability to hold one's heart at bay, bring forth the guardian and let the sun be my guide."

* * *

"Having understood the scrolls and learned of the path you have walked; your time has come for you to receive your title." Master Tien moved forward to the individual and looked down into his eyes.

"Your actions have defined you, and know this; all that you have done has lead you to this point. Arise Sagatious Juxiao."

Jux took in a slow breath and rose to his feet. "Thank you Master Tien." He took a slighty step back and bowed before his Master.

"You may leave now Juxiao, enjoy the rest of your night." Master Tien smiled and turned on the balls of his feet before kneeling and beginning to meditate.

* * *

The sound of sirens seemed distant in his mind, but the reality slowly began to fade in as the red hue filled the room. "Weapons fire; Section Two-Four-Eight" repeated the comm. Jux slipped on an jumpsuit as he headed down the corridor. He hopped a slight amount of the way as he struggled to get his legs into it before breaking into a sprint at the final stretch.

"Where's that medical team?!" The doctor leant over the fallen body as Jux moved into the room. There was people guarding the door; armed. "Sorry pal, can't go any further." One of the security officer stepped between Juxiao and the body. Usually he would have turned and walked away at this point, were it not for the doctor moving out of the way of the light; it illuminated the body. The fallen corpse of Master Tien.

Jux moved around the soldier and dropped to his knees. He took the cold hand of his master and lifted it from the steel floor. "Who did this?" He asked, looking at the doctor.

Meanwhile...

"Sir, I need to request permission to leave the ship." Furious Ling addressed the captian in his office, her bag over her should and an almost subconscious driving force behind her.

"Once the investigation is over into Master Tien's death then the shuttlebays will be reopen." Captain Lian seemed more involved in what was on his rosters than the concern of a student.

"You don't seem to understan-"

"Request Denied. Dismissed." The Captain looked up and eyed her carefully as she moved out of the office.

~Bastard~ She muttered under her breath, storming back to her room.

The corridors still had the red luminance to them, dropping the visibility somewhat to the point she didn't recognise the silhoutte before her until she hit it.

"Excuse m-...Oh, Hi Jay." She looked up slowly at the Atrox.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, side-stepping to block her path.

"Do what?" She eyed him carefully, shifting a foot behind her; taking on a right side stance.

"You killed Master Tien."

"I had to. I am not going to *live* with a title such as the one he gave me six months ago!" She ground her teeth together and dropped the bag to the floor.

"I don't want to hurt you, but you must stand aside." She clenched her fists and eyed him carefully.

"You have failed as a Guardian Ling. I'm going to inform the cap-" Jux's words were cut short as he was met with a foot to the stomach, he fell backwards and rolled himself backwards onto his feet. "Don't do thi-" He was knocked back again as Ling launched a flying kick at his chest. He fell to the floor and went silent.

She walked foward and placed a foot on his chest. "You never did understand Juxiao. A shame."

* * *

Ling finalised the process of loading the escape pod and moved to the wall panel to begin the ejection sequence. The sound of scraping feet could be heard from behind her as she stood at the panel.

"I...won't let you leave like this Ling." Juxiao put his weight against the doorframe as he looked at her.

"You're a hard learner Jux." She turned and broke into a sprint towards him. At the last minute she leapt into the air and brought her foot towards his face. There was an almightly crunching noise and it all went silent.

Juxiao held his hand hard against her chest, sandwiching her to the wall. "Don't. Just. Don't." Jux's words were brief but they held too much emotion for him to contain. He bit his lower lip, knowing full well the student he'd trained with wanted to kill him to get by him. "Now I'm going to put you down and I want you to go back to your quarters."

Ling was released and she slid down the wall, onto her feet. She didn't waste a moment to strike Juxiao in the back. He stumbled forward and slammed into one of the closed escape pod hatches. Coughing blood from here she'd struck him he turned and faced her once more.

"Don't make me do this Ling. Please." Jux slid his right foot back and assumed a mirroring stance. "I don't want to hurt you."

Ling made one final run at him, and leapt into a scissor kick; aiming for his neck. He moved as fast as he could and swung open the door on the escape pod. Her forward motion took her straight into the pod and landed her hard against it's back wall.

Juxiao shut the door and held his weight against it. Pulling off his shoe he looked across at the launch panel and threw it as hard as he could. The sound the shoe made on impact was superceeded by the locking of the door. The muffled screams of "I hate you Juxiao" and the final, but inevitable release of the escape pod containing one student of the late Master Tien.

[Zatchibana]

Part Three:

One can spend their entire life searching for the answer to the question why. But even a life exausted with no answer, is not a life wasted. The path is one of fear, and fear you must, regulate your emotions, control your mind, but let your fear steer you from the pitfalls and edges that will litter your journey.
Your path is one treasured in life, but when the time comes you will deal in death, but not revel in it. Moderation, not overindulgement. Sacrifice, not selfishness.
Whatever your past, disregard. You are of the now. What guides you, what binds you; is written within. These pages hold the key, but your hand opens the door.

Juxiao read the last paragraph of the final scroll before rolling it up and sliding it into a container. Before him stood the final five students of the House of Tien.

Xan Weish, Kai, Renchang, Thundering Chieng, Immovable Ziwei. All sat patiently, looking at him.

"I'm...really not ready to say this." Juxiao looked at the five of them and in turn slid down onto his knees. "I spoke to the Captain and...he needs to move us elsewhere."

Kai leant forward and spoke up slowly, "What of us Jux?" before moving back.

He rested his head in his hands but sat upright, taking a moment before returning them to his lap. He began handing out each of the scrolls, one to each of the other students.

"Juxiao, what are you doing?" Chieng asked, accepting it, but looking concerned as he did.

"I've got no choice. We're going to have to bring the teachings of the House of Tien to an end." Juxiao took a moment to look at each of the individual students as he said it. "There is no place for us aboard this ship anymore. Not now Master Tien is..."

The room fell into silence and what seemed like darkness. There was not a whisper, only downturned heads; thinking upon the situation.

"He did what he knew best for us," Renchang spoke up, "From the day we came here, until the day he left u-"

Immovable Ziwei turned to him and barked. "He didn't leave us!" The silence returned for a moment, "He was taken from us, by that bitch Ling!"

Xan Weish leant forward and eyed Ziwei, "Anger never got us anywhere!"

"We need to get revenge!" Chieng spoke up; plunging the room into silence once more.

"Revenge?" Kai looked at him carefully, "Master Tien wouldn't allow such a th-"

Chieng interrupted him suddenly, "Master Tien isn't here anymore! Master Tien is de-"

Juxiao took a breath and shouted; something he'd never done. "Alright!" He took a moment to center himself before continuing. "Arguing over this isn't the way to go, no amount of bickering is going to bring him back it's only going to push us further apart, agreed?"

There was a set of nods that acknowledged what he'd said, and they watched him with concerned eyes. "We're not ready to face her, none of us are. She was his *best*, something that we are no-where near."

Kai muttered something about defeat to himself, Jux picked up on the word and used it, "We will not admit defeat in this, we have not been defeated. We are still here."

"Hope may fade into shadows," Typically Xan Weish spoke up in one of his realisations. "But our spirit will remain, our spirit is the light." He closed his eyes and downturned his head as he continued listening to what Juxiao had to say.

"We need to train, in our own ways, develop our own techniques." Juxiao looked at the group. "Xan, you for one know this, you all know this. If we are to face her, we must do so together, not alone. Strong, not weak and at peace, not angered." Juxiao rose off his knees to his feet.

"Rise, students of the House of Tien." Juxiao turned to Ziwei at the end of the row to his right. "We are not weak," He started.

"We are strong in our own." Ziwei responded, turning to Chieng.

"We are not broken, we are the light I have known." Chieng looked over his shoulder at Renchang.

"Divide...us they can't, for our spirit holds tight." Renchang stumbled slightly over the words, scratching the back of his neck.

"Forever with peace, guardians of light." Xan Weish spoke the final words of the opening chapter to the House of Tien Scrolls. In one fell motion, the students held the scrolls behind them and bowed. Departing; leaving Juxiao alone in the room. He slammed his back against the wall once they were out of sight and fell to his knees.

[Zatchibana]

Part Four:

"So. This is it." Chieng shouldered his back before promptly tossing it into the shuttle. The sound of his shoes against the cold metal floor was drowned out by the sliding of his back as it moved across the shuttle.

"Look, I didn't want it to b-"

"I know Jux, no-one did. We're doing the right thing. We're gunna go out, train, get better and then we're gunna go face that bitch. Deal with her in our own ways and then ...and then I don't know." Chieng put a hand high on Juxiao's shoulder. "You'll be ready, I know you will"

The intercomm came to life "Juxiao, Chieng, load up, we're disengaging your shuttle in 5 minutes." The two turned to each other, exchanged a brief nod, a hand shake and then took their separate shuttles.

The last of the two of the House of Tien were loaded up into the shuttle. The pilot moved to their hold and took a moment to speak with them. "We're gunna be setting down on an inhabited planet in a binary star system. Now I don't expect any of you to have any knowledge of this planet so I'm going to get you guys check in, into apartments and settled. Is everyone clear with that?"

There was almost a nod from the group, so subtle with their heads lowered that it was barely noticed. The pilot nodded slowly, took a few steps back, turned and returned to the cockpit.

The ICC Shuttleport wasn't having a good night, storms shook the island and pillars of lighting battered the tallest buildings, instilling the workers with frustration as the booms of thunder shocked them on occaision.

"Shuttle Two-One-Five. You are cleared for landing on docking pad six. come about and adjust your cours-...." The commlink shut off and the ship rocked hard as the lightning seared off a nacelle. It veered hard to port and spiralled. The students gripped their seats as Juxiao went for the emergency hatch. Throwing the switch the door burst open and the speed of the ship spinning launched him out of it and into a fast freefall. He could hear the shuttle whistling as it span into a sharp descent. The sky lit up and the whistling was gone, his vision clouded with bubbles and everything seemed heavier. He tried breathing but all that filled his mouth was a cold, salty substance. He struggled to rise in it, avoiding sinking pieces of orange something that passed him as he moved.

Breaking the surface he emptied his mouth and trod water for a moment, in an almost tedious slow motion he looked towards the island, towards a cliff-face, lit up with fire, drenched in flamed and a beach scattered with debris. "No..." He muttered to himself, struggling to swim for shore. It took him a good minute or so to get there, even when he could he wasn't able to stand as he crawled up the beach, the beds of his fingernails filling with sand as he clawed his way up to the wreckage.

Shattered corpses, seared bulkheads and burning horror still rolled off the cliff-face. He dropped to his knees and buried his face into the sand, his eyes welled as he sobbed and the sand clung to his face in the wake of the tears. His muffled screams went un-heard in the chill of the night, stifled by the thunder, unseen by the people of this island.

He awoke, some two hours later, the suns burning his eyes with the wicked water lapping at his feet. A doctor leaning over him, "That was quite a crash" Doctor Thorn spoke up, checking the man over. "You're a lucky one. Aside from some mild dehydration you should be fine." He handed the kid some sort of syringe package. "Inject yourself with these, they'll help restore your lost water and minerals."

Jux just rest them in his lap and looked up and down the beach. "Where's..."

"The wreckage? Removed, there was nothing we could do for what was left of them." Brandon Thorn helped the man to his feet and allowed him to survey the rest of the beach. "We started a clean-up operation about an hour ago after the fire had been put out. I didn't want to move you, you seemed comatose almost so I couldn't properly survey your injuries."

"So, where to for you?" Brandon turned to the tall individual and asked with a mild curiousity. There was a simple shrug as a reply.

At least an hour ensued on the conversation of sides between the two and Juxiao left with as much confusion as when he started, that was at least until he overheard a conversation between two people waiting to board a shuttle.

"So, you picked clan huh?" The woman leant over and admired her fellow passenger's collar.

"Yeah, they're up for the whole freedom thing. Rather them than regulations and restrictions. You're staying neutral?" She eyed the other woman carefully, somewhat curious as to the choice, or thereby lack of.

"The ability to choose, to go whatever way is true freedom." The comment earnt her a nod.

"But, being clan has so many merits. Take for example some of the experts in the field, imagine someone who can command their emotions to create monsters, have them fight for them."

"A Metaphysicist?" The other one replied, contemplating the profession for a moment, "I've heard they're formidable, but as always you take down the cause, you take down the monsters."

"True, but we're going off on a tangent. What I meant was the amount of professionals there are in the field."

"Name one then" The other asked, watching as her fellow passenger picked up a grid-stream printout. "This woman. She's clan. She knows what she's doing. She's also a metaphy-..."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the tannoy. "Whompahs to Borealis and West Athen now active. Please proceed to station four for transport." Juxiao watched as they left the printout on the bench and made his way for it with intense curiousity.

"Master of emotions..." he skim read the pages, unable to comprehend the power being wielding the thing he had been told to supress for so long. His mind flicked back to Ling, if need be he'd need to learn something different, something to give him the edge.

He bit his lip and pulled his comm-link from his pocket. "Here we go," He said to himself, resting it on his knee as he sat down. He flipped the pad open and keyed in a comm-link name off the stream. T. U. S. S. A.

and the rest, as they say; is history.

The End.