Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story and they all belong to Bioware, SWTOR, and the Star Wars universe.
Note: This is an idea that came from an amazing author from a story I read on Archive of our Own. I have their permission to use the idea so if you see any similarities to it, you know! The original story is called Unmasked if you would like to read it I highly recommend it!
Satele opened her eyes with some difficulty as if it was a struggle to just lift her eyelids from her eyes and look up. Even when they were open, she wasn't able to see a whole lot more past the darkness and the shadows of the…where was she again? The only thing she remembered was Yavin IV, the battle, then meeting with the Emperor's Wrath, Darth Marr and all their associates inside of a conference room in the temple. There wasn't much more past that, her mind seemed to go blank as if it had been wiped clean. There was an eerie echo around her and when she moved her hands next to her, she felt the ground was damn, rocks and some plants had managed to grow through the rough rocks.
Every inch of her body hurt, she felt blood over her leg and the small breeze of cold air that whistled through what she had now figured was some sort of cave didn't feel too good either across the multiple scars and bruises. Satele slowly lifted herself to her elbows and looked around, then out of instinct she reached for her lightsaber but it was gone. Her boots were as well, she noticed, her feet were bare and only her tunic and leggings were on her body still. After some struggle to lift her body all the way up to a somewhat modified sitting position, she looked around and managed to see where she was since her eyes had mostly now adjusted to the darkness. It was a large cave, as she had expected to see, there was some weeds and plants in the corner and now the distant trickling of water in the background but she couldn't tell where it was coming from although she figured it was further into the darkness. Mostly no light came through and she couldn't see the entrance. How did she get there?
"Satele you need to come with me now or we'll both die!" Marr's voice echoed as he stood on the edge of the rushing river waiting for her to get across. She easily jumped across a few rocks and with the help of the force, she was able to safely land on the other side. The Sith Lord grabbed her arm and roughly tugged her forward and they rushed through the thick jungle together. He had released her arm when she was able to run on her own and keep up with him, their footsteps echoing through the leaves and the rough terrain.
"Marr, they're catching up! We need to keep running!" Satele yelled, he glanced back to her as he jumped across a few more rocks following the river that rushed past them the other direction. The hill was steep and she knew that they wouldn't be able to keep running forever but the adrenaline pushed her.
"This way!" his rough voice called her through the mask, the same voice she had been used to hearing. The very familiar echo of it made him almost nameless, faceless that was the only way she ever knew of her enemy, the only light she had ever seen him in. This unlikely alliance was forged mostly on a shared need to combine their forces and their power to face Revan, but now they were separated from the others.
Satele turned for a second to see if their pursuers were still behind them but they weren't, there was no sound of them, there was no trace of them at all. She glanced forward to see Marr ahead of her, his lightsaber was out and he was using it to clear them a path as he rushed forward. His larger frame wasn't hard to miss and his longer legs kept his footsteps heavier than hers keeping him easily ahead of her. As she leaped across a few more rocks to follow Marr, she remembered the current of the river caught her and she slipped. She tried to reach out with the force to help herself up but her power had faded, all the strength she had in the force at that moment seemed to fail her and she felt her side hit a sharp rock. Satele had opened her mouth to scream but there was no sound that came out, another tumble caused another sharp rock to scrape up the side of her leg like a thousand razorblades all at once, it stung for the moment but when she opened her eyes she saw the bottom and tried to focus on pushing herself into the water instead of hitting the rocks. Finally some of her strength returned, she shut he eyes tightly and flung her body towards the large body of water at the bottom then everything went blank.
"Satele" Marr's voice was deep, just as she had remembered it. There was no human sound to it, the mask made him into the faceless Sith warrior she had been working it but it was enough to snap her from the memory. At least now she knew how she got there, Marr must have pulled her out of the water.
Satele slowly lifted her head to look up at him, her eyes moving up as if she was following his body before locking on his mask as he stood above her.
"You're awake…"
"I am, thank you" she responded with some difficulty. Talking was still hard, her throat felt dry as if she had been screaming for days and her voice came our hoarse and scratchy. He seemed to notice it and simply nodded, kneeling down next to her but picked up her boots, gloves, and lightsaber hilt and placed it next to her.
"You took a bad fall, but we're safe now, if you want to wash off there is a river outside" he just turned and left starting to make his way towards what she figured was the entrance.
She scrambled to her feet as much as she could and started to follow him. The rocks were cold under her sore feet and it was difficult to walk but she followed as best as she could. How could she, the Jedi Grandmaster, be nearly killed by rocks and a fall? What had happened before that? What were they running from? She wanted to ask him but Marr wasn't one for conversation and she wasn't sure that know would change much of anything. There was only one important question right now.
"Where are we?" her voice had cleared up a little and it sounded better and more like herself. Marr remained just a little in front of her but didn't turn to answer instead led her more until they were out of the cave. It was the middle of the night, or somewhere around then, Satele figured. The sky was completely dark and the sounds of the jungle sang around them, birds and creatures that were out during the night seemed to break the silence every so often.
Marr finally stopped walking and turned to see if she was still behind him. He originally had no intention to pander to the Jedi that ran the entire order of light side force users that he had despised. However, being the situation they were in right now he knew better then to let her die. In fact, he wasn't sure why he had saved her exactly but he knew she was important to the mission, she was part of what held the alliance together and he was afraid that without her, it would fall apart. Any chance of them actually being able to find and defeat Revan would vanish with her and the forces she led that would most likely turn tail and run. No, she had to live, he needed her help. Marr felt her power, it radiated off of her and he enjoyed how calming it felt, like nothing he had felt before.
"We're not far from the camp, but I followed you when you fell" he finally said. Seeing her vulnerable like this was unusual to him. His eyes scanned her body seeing some bruises and scars from the fall and a large gash on her leg from what he assumed was a large rock that she had hit on the way down. After he saw her fall, he had to make his way down the mountain and catch up to her. Thankfully, he'd caught her right before she disappeared into the water and potentially drowned before he could get to her.
"Do you not remember?" she seemed to be looking at him with a blank stare as if she was waiting for him to keep going.
After a minute, Satele finally nodded then looked around. They had stopped walking and faced each other. Next to them sat a small lake that went into a smaller river and the river disappeared around the curve of the mountain they were near.
He turned away and listened to only the rustling of the fabric as she slid out of her tunic and legging and then disappeared into the water. The small splash of the water was what all he heard before slowly turning to make sure then finally turning back around. Only her head was visible as she swam towards the center of the lake, the ripples following her before her head ducked under the water to pop back out a few seconds later. The black braids were heavy with the water and seemed to weigh her hair down but she pushed them out of her face and splashed more water over her head.
Satele turned to him and glared. He was still sitting there, watching her. Even though she knew better than to think he had any intention to watch her bathe, he was facing the perfect direction. Sensing his annoyance, she almost laughed when he turned around. The water was cold and it felt good across her sore body and the bruises from the rocks. Finally she moved across the lake and towards her clothes, sliding back into her tunic and leggings then pushing some of the water out of her hair.
"That wound, it'll get infected, I have something" Marr said motioning to her leg. She looked down to see that it was still bleeding, after the water and whatever else was in it, she knew it wasn't a good idea to just leave it open. It started at the side of her knee and went about 5 inches down, it was still bleeding and open.
"You saved my life Darth Marr, thank you" she had been thinking it for some time but wasn't sure what bringing it up would do. Mar wasn't one that was known for saving lives more for ending them. He was Sith, in fact, and he held incredible power, Satele felt it. Her mind couldn't understand why he had saved her, why not take the opportunity to kill her, instead he ran after her and pulled her out. There had to be some other motive there and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out why.
They had started walking back towards the cave and had quickly made it to the spot she remembered. All her stuff was there still, not much had changed. Satele dropped to her knees slowly as Marr sat next to her and started to pull out a kolto shot out of his pack. "Lay back" he ordered her. He had no intention to pander her any more than he had to in order to keep her alive. Stupid Jedi had slipped and fallen and was now holding them up. Their forces were alone without their leadership while they were stuck together in a cave with her injured, she wouldn't make the trip back very easily or if at all. He sensed her conflict, as I she was still unsure about something but decided best not to ask at all or to push it.
Satele did as he said watching as he gave her the shot then then wrapped her leg with the little bandage he had.
"Darth Marr" she started. After he finished, he looked up at her. It was the same look she was used to, there was no human instinct there, like he was some sort of lifeless being that was able to only do his motor functions and not much more. She wasn't fond of getting to know him either or spend time chatting, her interest was going back to the camp.
"Have you contacted anyone?"
"No, the terrain and the weather isn't going to allow much communication, so my holo is useless, your is in the bottom of the lake"
Satele smiled a bit, she was sure that was his attempt at a joke but he simply turned back to her leg and fixed the bandage a bit more before sitting back.
"You should sleep"
"What about you?" she asked.
"I need to see if I can find out where we are and get some contact out. Someone will come looking for us soon, we just have to be alive when they get here"
Satele didn't question him. What was so dangerous out here that had even Darth Marr spooked? She laid back on her arm and shut her eyes trying to get comfortable. After she relaxed a little, Marr's heavy footsteps moved away before finally disappearing, she could only figure he had left to go look around more. Normally, she would be helping him but her body wasn't recovered, everything still hurt. The dripping around her from the moisture of the cave lulled her to sleep slowly, or what she figured was sleep. The darkness kept her awake, voices in her sleep spoke to her but she couldn't understand them, the feel of the dark side was strong and it grew closer. The only problem, Satele knew, was that it wasn't Marr, it was something much worse.
