AN: For those of you who are new to this story, read on!
For those of you who came over from "It Begins Something Like This" the ****** mark what's new for you.
Chapter 7: What Can Go Wrong
On the ships that were available to them from the Academy, Enwa and Ben would reach the Outer Rim within a day. They could reach it in less time if they had been able to extend their hyperdrive but that would require more fuel that they couldn't chance wasting. The idea was to always expect that something goes wrong.
Especially on a reconnaissance mission.
Enwa and Ben had secluded themselves in his quarters to open the hologram to detail their mission. As he thought of it, Ben absent mindedly fingered the knobs of the hologram's grooves. He'd brought it with him just in case, though he could feel that Enwa had memorized it probably the moment she saw it. The initial excitement had worn off and the cabin of their ship felt small even with the two of them as the nerves set it. Granted, neither of them would admit to such a weakness and they both stayed on the opposite sides after the initial takeoff.
Attempting to put some distance between him and Enwa he want back to the cockpit and gazed at the sight around him. He remembered briefly going on trips with his father...when the man still wanted to bring him. Eventually Han Solo's trips had become "too dangerous". Probably meaning that any stories Ben would bring home to Leia would be not taken kindly by the ex-royal.
This line of thinking had done nothing for his nerves and the boy took the message out of his pocket, flicking it back on to replay it. The image of the Jantaun was familiar to him even as he turned all the angles. Jantaun's were a relatively peaceful people, not built for battle. Though they appeared mostly human their voices had the thrum of something that sounds like it had evolved for communicating underwater. But the message came through clearly, even so. Their prince had gone missing. Missing, or run away or worse- no one was really sure. It wasn't of particular interest until his ship suddenly started sending signals after months of searching for the missing monarch. The signal came from the destination where he and Enwa hurtled toward through countless of solar systems he would have liked to visit much more than where they were currently headed. The Outer Rim was dangerous enough but that wasn't really what put the knots in his stomach. The planet of Sembla where the Jantaun's Prince was suspected to be just so happened to be an oceanic planet. The land that existed between those vast shallow oceans was lush and beautiful but also covered with volcanoes.
True, it could have been worse. There were entire planets covered in water. But the rolling waves even in the image of the hologram was enough to make Ben already feel like the weight of the sea had pressed over him as it did so often in his nightmares. Struggling to breathe he'd kick his legs into the air but the water would only press harder as if it had a mind of its own to take him down into the dark.
Ben clicked off the message, filled with the frustration that often bubbled to the surface with his fear. He breathed deeply through his nose to calm himself, blocking the view of the open space before him as he emptied his mind. He stayed like this for an indeterminate amount of time, joining with the Force with the same passion that he tended to do most everything. Luckily, as much as he seemed to sway on the tightrope of discipline that being a Jedi required the Force always seemed to welcome him back like sun on his face.
Enwa had moved in when she felt his anxiety pulsing through their bond. Usually, she would ignore the pull. Master Skywalker had warned her briefly about indulging in it too often because it could lead to codependency that would hurt them both. Yet, Master Skywalker would also encourage her to calm a partner before heading into a mission. Instead of finding Ben pacing angrily, as he was apt to do, the man was seated with his hands crossed. She couldn't quite see his face from where he sat in the cockpit with his back to her, but she could feel by his energy that he had given himself over into meditation. She couldn't help but quirk the lightest of smiles, fascinated by the show of peace that Ben could have once he put his mind to it. She shrank down to the bench that sat behind the captain's seat, she didn't feel the need to slip into the co-pilot's side and risk distracting him. Instead she mimicked his pose, intending not to sleep but to center herself as her friend was doing. It was when the ship suddenly jerked that both of them immediately faded into action.
Part of Jedi training was to ensure your ability to fly when necessary. Ben's aptitude for it put him in the captain's seat but Enwa was hardly going to let him deal with anything alone.
"What was that?" she asked, her voice not betraying anything but clinical detachment even as she slid in the co-pilot's seat. Ben had already put on his headset, reading the scanner's of the ships. Despite the open air around the ship the electrical fields had wavered for a moment. Enwa was already switching on the combustion's stabilizer before he even had to tell her to.
"...I'm not sure..." He brought up the other map, looking at the measurements of the jump that had caused their ship to shudder so suddenly. "It's almost like we hit the world's smallest electric storm. But there's nothing out here." At this point they both looked to each other, simultaneously questioning the same line of thought that they didn't dare speak aloud. If they had passed a ship that was cloaked, their electrical field might have brushed theirs but it would hardly elicit a blip on their radar unless it was a ship of gargantuan proportions.
Enwa's eyes meaninglessly scanned the air before them. If that had been what happened, there would be no telling what it was unless they went back. "Do you...want to go see what it was?"
Ben felt the "yes" whisper so strongly in his head he'd almost thought he said it outloud. But instead he stared at her, his eyes roving over the curve of her jaw as he leaned near her to switch the stabilizer back of. "...No..." He said faintly. "We're only 8 hours from Sembla... I think I'm going to try to get some sleep, it will be day when we arrive there." He stood up slowly slipping by her, and he felt her gaze settle indiscriminately on his legs as he did so. He knew the smirk that plucked at his mouth was not gentlemanly, but he couldn't help it. It was nice to know that she noticed him, and she did seem to. Especially since he'd found her crying in the forest, she didn't take his eyes off him for long. He felt himself grow hot at the thought, his smirk fading as he ran his hands through his hair.
Perhaps sleep wasn't going to be possible just yet. But no... Ben shook his head, getting up to splash water on his face from the small sink. What he wanted was a cold shower so he could keep his wits about him, but since that wasn't possible, he settled back in the cramped bed and attempted to sleep.
...
He awoke sooner than he should have thanks to a niggling panic in his brain. Unable to determine whether he was dreaming Ben groggily untangled himself and realized only a second before the door slid open that he could hear Enwa running down the short hallway.
"We've changed course. Something's pulling us into the planet too quickly..." It was the same clinical attachment they'd been taught in the academy but he could see her iridescent gaze was wide even in the half light of his sleeping chamber. He was already getting up and passing her even as she was finishing her statement. He could feel the anxiety through their bond- she'd already tried to slow the ship down and had failed.
In a daze he found himself in the pilot's seat, her lithe form moving into the spot next to it as naturally as breathing even when she was stiff in her panic. She was right, they were coming in far too quickly from a gravitational force much greater than the planet should have been able to produce and something was pulling them. His hands froze for a second over the controls, debating what the best course of action would be.
It was at this precise moment that the message board, that had been decidedly silent of any messages during their journey, blew up with radio frequencies as if they had suddenly breeched into an entire fleet. The cacophony of voices, not all human, and not all speaking a language they knew, lit up the speakers around them in a way that caused them to immediately search for each other's attention.
Enwa was already sending a pre-emptive stress signal out back to the Jedi Academy but at the rate they were approaching the planet there was very little the Academy would do. Rather, it was a strategy to locate wreckage...if necessary.
Ben shook the possibility out of his head to concentrate on the task before him. Suddenly his eyes drew to the map on the left of the immense dash.
"Enwa..." He said softly, he could feel his throat tightening. She didn't have to respond for him to know she was listening. "It's not just pulling it in quickly... it's pulling us into a different place." His dark eyes were wide on their projected landing...in the middle of one of many of Sembla's oceans.
"Fuck..." She said softly, comprehending drawing over her face. As per the co-pilot's position she was already attempting to contact the leader of the Vurk they had spoken to before. The Vurk people had always been democratic and as such they had many people in a chain of command that would feasibly be able to answer a distress call, but all they heard over the speakers was static in response. Enwa adjusted their frequency but her hands were shaking in an uncharacteristic way, apparently she wasn't relishing the thought of plunging into an ocean planet in the middle of nowhere familiar. Ben grabbed the physical controls, attempting to turn them manually back to the location closer to where they had planned to land. When that didn't work, Ben started looking toward anywhere he could put them on any land. They were close, so close. The oceans of Sembla may be shallow, but this did not mean he wanted to crash into one. He recalled his dream in a way that suddenly gave him fuel.
Fuel. Already, his hands were switching toward the engine's control, following a path as if it had been his plan all along. "Wh-What are you trying to do...? Pushing us backwards isn't going to..."
"We have to do something. At the speed we're going now, even if we hit the water the ship will still come apart."
Nodding, Enwa resigned herself to switching the ship's main energy output back to their propellers. Ben wondered briefly if she'd let him kiss her again. He could see the seemingly endless expanse of the horizons of the island that were coming in much too quickly still. Both of them felt the pull of the ship as the momentum was interrupted. Immediately the ships power output began to steadily increase until the entire dashboard was flashing red. Blindly he reached for her hand at the same time she reached for his.
"It's slowing us down."
"Well damn, we might not die immediately then." she replied with the cynicism that she always seemed to have even when her energy was stabilizing itself. Apparently even in the face of potential demise, Enwa was going to go in a very calm sarcastic pain in his ass.
"C'mon..." He growled at her, half dragging the offered hand away from the cockpit. His hands were already scrambling for the meager emergency supplies. They'd have to get into the crash unit soon, but he was sending her in their first.
"No! I'm not going in without you, let me help." Ben didn't have the time to argue with her and he was already switching his hand to her arms and shoving at her simultaneously with Force.
"Go. I'll be right there." He bit out, her bared teeth being the last thing he saw before he shoved her into the crash pod. A crash pod wasn't a guaranteed survival, but the pull of their engines sending them backwards even as their momentum continued would be enough to save them. Now, however, Ben knew what he had to do. Running back to the controls he quickly switched their targeted position. They wouldn't have a chance crashing into the islands now and he had to re-direct to make sure they landed in water. The thought alone was enough to make him cold, the idea of the ship plummeting into the pressing water was nearly undoing him even as his hands moved quickly. He felt the line of sweat from his hairline fall down his neck even as he finished the ship's last command. They wanted to be far enough from the land to not crash and burn, but close enough where they wouldn't drown trying to reach it. A dangerous guessing game.
Grievously, he captained the ship the best he could, noting that someone from the academy had attempted to reach him. He thought briefly of leaving a message back, but to tell them what? He loved them? He wasn't afraid to die? He wasn't sure either statements were true at the moment so he ignored the light and instead thrust himself away from the dashboard to join Enwa in the crash pod.
She'd immediately gripped his shoulders, saying...something. She was loud and close to him and all he could smell and feel her in a heightened way that only ever seemed to happen in dreams. His ears were filled with what might be his heart on borrowed time, if whatever was pulling their ship in had their way. He tried to shove her back into crash position, not having enough humanity to be able to verbalizea civil request for her to let him go. The thought was too advanced.
He was down to the basics of thought. Like Girl, Girl is not safe, Girl would be safe if in the crash seat, Girl should be in crash seat. But she was fighting him, her fierce mouth drawn into a snarl with all the focus and fire he was used to being burned by when it came to her. It didn't seem to be much of a stretch to change his simplistic way of thought. Attempting to limit the scope of her hands which now attempted to pound on his chest, he grabbed both of them, barley restraining her even enough to bend down and kiss her fully. He wasn't all together sure if she was still fighting him, though he doubted it.
It was like the first item and yet incredibly different if only because he was ready for it. Ben knew that the level of their bond was not the Jedi way, and in this second he truly saw what his Uncle was talking about.
She crashed over him in a way that would pressurize his bones, heavier than the waves that fell over his head in his own nightmares while still managing to make him float away like some sweet dream. It was not a good kiss, he'd caught her open-mouthed and her sharp teeth nicked his top lip enough where blood spoiled the taste of her mouth. He was full, he was together, he was grasping her arms now and attempting to pull her into him as much as he could without snapping any part of her and she was letting him. And he saw what his Uncle was afraid of, what the Jedi were afraid of.
He would never belong to anything like he belonged to hear at that moment.
Outside of their conjoined minds, their lives plummeted to Sembla down below. And his body seemed to remember this enough to once again shove her into the strapped chair. He went to strap her in but she Forced him away, screaming for him to hold on.
He knew that the controls were lit up and flashing, warning them of their imminent impact, he felt like he saw the red even bleed through the pod's reinforced walls even when Enwa thrust her hand into the eject button. They shot away from their ship, their figurehead of safety on his very first mission and Ben began to laugh. He laughed and reached for her hand even as the world seemed to explode.
...
It wasn't any landing to be envious of. Ben hit the back of his head on impact given he wasn't properly strapped down around his head into the helmet like structure. Enwa was screaming and it took him probably a full minute to come back to the physical reality. It took him even long than that to figure out his vision hadn't failed and it was the emergency lights that had extinguished due to the hissing water spout that was escaping into the pod at an alarming rate. Ben remembered his terror quickly and shoved it aside with a vengeance that surprised him. Enwa was screaming.
Screaming
It actually made his ears thrum like something had turned on the volume after he'd lived in silence. Was she panicking? Dying? Angry? He couldn't tell. But he was fumbling at the straps that held him in his chair. He was so scared of that sound he could have forgotten about the water rushing in if it wasn't already around his knees. Finally free he moved toward her blindly and he could feel her shaking even in her own restraints which she hadn't removed yet. Maybe she couldn't? Ben couldn't see in the dark and he started groping at her blindly. He felt all of her that he wasn't supposed to touch and much of it was familiar, she didn't even seem to notice until he stumbled upon something horrifyingly unfamiliar. The crack where the water was coming in was right near her knee... And her leg had obviously suffered for it.
He knew, with a lurch of his stomach that some of the slickness he was touching was definitely not water. He'd only skimmed his fingers across her thigh in the barest of ways but he felt with certainty that her femur jutted through her leg. He also knew that the sound she was making wasn't solely with her mouth she was actually screaming inside of his head. He felt dark fingers clutching desperately at his temple, attempting to Force him away from her. The darkness of the pod combined with the screams actually felt like more sinister than the water that now filled up. It was an unsettling realization that she was shouting over her own voice in his head, her voice raw and gasping.
"Get out get out! GET OUT!" she was shrieking and he didn't know at what. But he could feel it crawling all over him in the dark. He knew, logically, that it wasn't anything physical. For a second he let the feeling paralyze him was it death? Was he feeling death's hands on his head?
Before his mental facilities were up and running he was lunging back at her, this time with his mind. He put her to sleep instantly. Not comprehending what he was doing he was undoing her straps with hands that were steady but unsure and he was picking up her limp body.
If their escape pod had cracked because of the pressure of the depth they were underneath the oceans of Sembla; they would die. If they were too deep for him to carry her safely, then they would die. His fingers went for the approximate location of the underwater breathing devices. He wished he hand the time or hands to grab at the emergency kit but helplessly he realized it might not do her much good. With her body pressed up on him in the water that now filled the pod, he could feel the bone jut into his own thigh. He shoved the breathing piece in his mouth and shoved it into her lax lips as well and took that moment to thurst his hand upward to find the lever that would confirm their release of the door. With a mystifying relief, Ben felt the sea water crash over him. His fear was there, just was the knowledge that this was the place that he'd had nightmares about. But there was more than that, there was determination.
Sembla, luckily, was not a planet inhabited by a surplus of predators. It had been cut off from war in the same way it appeared cut off from a particularly hiearchal food chain that could inhabit planets, but that didn't mean he didn't have to be careful One positive of the water would have been that he didn't have to carry the girl along with him. He glanced back at her, by now his eyes stung so badly that he couldn't feel it. She looked peaceful, having been forced asleep and Ben realized with a painful cry of relief that the fact he could see meant they were not deep in the water. He began to drag her way from the pod, half swimming and half using the ground to bounce himself forward, he indiscriminately went the way he was facing and kept his eyes strained around them. Dragging her left a cloud of blood behind them he noted that it was mysteriously plentiful if it was just from mangled leg her leg so he began to expect it wasn't the only source. But it filled him with even more drive instead of panic, his breathing desperate in the tube he'd stuck between his lips. He couldn't tell if he was running toward safety, running from the crash, or attempting to get away from whatever darkness fingered the grooves of his brain even now. Something had been in there. He couldn't eliminate the feeling that it still was.
The first time his head bounced above water felt himself cry silently, his body trembling with the heaves of relief before he continued plunging toward the shore. Finally his head broke fully through the water and he could walk on land more fully. By the time he got to shore enough where he would have to carry Enwa he would have collapsed in exhaustion if the light of a mockingly peaceful sun hadn't cast a harsh glow on his companion. Despite the fact he'd seen the bumbles stemming from the device in her mouth to demonstrate breath had been going in and out of her lungs, she looked quite dead. He splashed down toward her clenching her face in his hands. He could feel her mind, he knew she wasn't dead and he had to keep going.
Keep going all the way to shore.
When he hit it, he dragged her onto the sad and pushed the wet tendrils of hair away from her and threw the thing from her mouth to the side along with his. He heaved in the aggressive sobs that could now hit the dry air and he only had a split second to realize he was going to vomit. He disgusted himself by doing so too near to hear and even before he was finished tossing up his guts he pushed her away from him. Having finished, he thought of washing his mouth out with water but he didn't have the energy. He had to move quickly. Taking off his shirt he was ripping it into wide strips with his teeth. He didn't want to look at her leg, dreaded it, but he attempted to clear his mind and disassociate himself from the task. He pretended he was in class and pretending to care for wounds like he was in an exam with Luke watching over him silently. He observed the bone with detachment even as his eyes filled and his throat stuck. Her skin was molted purple around it and it wept with a terrifying amount of blood. But really it was the bone, stark white even against her skin, that really had him horrified. There was a strong possibility she would lose the leg, but he couldn't think about that either. Wouldn't think about it. He instead tied a tourniquet even as his vision began to blur and darken at the edges. Slowly he'd been drooping over as he worked, eventually his head had hit her chest as he tied the knot on the tourniquet. He laid down next to her half over her with his face in the crook of her neck and he fell into a sleep that he wouldn't wake from without a great form of stimulation.
...
That form of stimulation came from the shouting in his head that he registered as coming from Enwa. He woke up to the night, shivering in the air despite it being quite warm and they had both dried in their stillness. The sand stuck to him and he drew back enough to stare at her. The motion brought a pain so sincere that it seemed to pass straight through his eyes and down his spine. The hit from the impact of the pod onto the ocean floor had been forgotten in his adrenaline, but it was nauseatingly present now. There were other parts of him that hurt, he realized he might have broken his toe and the sea water stung the scrapes on his arms and feet that he'd got from plunging through the ocean's floor indiscriminately, but he would survive. It was hilarious to think he could survive that. He laughed at the thought, it seemed utterly ridiculous that he might wake up tomorrow and brush his teeth even having felt death's hands on his mind.
The delirious smile faded while he looked at Enwa. She was having a nightmare, muttering now and drawing in hiccuping breaths as if she wasn't sure the oxygen was working in her sleep. He didn't need much light to see that she had a fever. Even in the light of the moons he could see the sweat on her brow and her upper lip.
Suddenly her body strained underneath him, her limbs digging into the sand with the force of her back arching. He guessed this put sudden weight on her open fracture and immediately to follow she jerked awake with a gasp. He actually watched her attempt to focus on him and fail, her gaze candescent and rolling. She groaned again her hands raising of their own accord to push at him with surprising force. He gripped the offending appendages but dragged himself off of her. Moving made him incredibly aware of what was almost certainly a concussion on his part. Perhaps it was the concussion that made her look like she was hazy at her edges, almost dewy like she glowed. Flushed and pale at the same time he realized this almost certainly depicted that she was battling the infection probably set in from her open fracture.
All at once her gaze seemed to steady on him with an alarming intensity. He freed her hands mostly out of surprise for the sudden focus- she was reaching for him. "Ben, Ben, Ben..."
He swallowed at the tone in her voice, horse and desperate. She didn't appear to have anything more to say, falling silent as she pawed at his face and shoulders. He winced as her fingers passed over the wounds he didn't realize he had on his face. Every bit of him hurt, it did not surprise him that he didn't notice the wounds and bruises specifically that she identified with her touch. He took a moment in her distraction to steel himself to look at her leg. The nausea from before polluted his stomach and he had to swallow against it. Though he was fairly confident that even if the bone looked clean and her skin was unblemished, the sight was still so plainly wrong to illicit concern. But it was certainly not clean and the skin was certainly not unblemished. The infection from the bone mixed with bruising all in combination with the very obvious femur jutting through her hamstring was enough to make him spin even when he'd been inspecting this.
"How bad is it...?" She said, sounding rather detached from the situation. He realized then that he'd held on to her hands subconsciously and had stilled them where they lay on his own chest and he felt the overwhelming urge to cry.
He realized then that he didn't mind being stranded, having to face one of his biggest fear that would undoubtedly lead to further trauma or the ship he knew was at the bottom of the ocean. Stars, he would be fine if the council wouldn't let him become a master for another 10 years after the colossal failure that they had faced before even beginning their first mission. This would have all been acceptable if he wasn't faced with the very obvious sight of his oldest friend potentially dying in front of him.
He let out a shuddering breath, allowing the hot tears to well up for only a second as he pressed both of her captured hands to his face. This seemed to be an answer in itself to her question.
He tried to think of a solution, but his mind was frustratingly blank. The voices that so often called to him both waking and asleep were frustratingly silent. This was when he clued into the silence, her voice was strikingly absent from the mix as well. Alarmed he looked to her and saw she had already been staring.
"It's you..." She answered the question he hadn't even gotten the chance to ask. "Something's blocking you... you feel fuzzy." She looked to the wounds visible to her and probed his consciousness. Normally so full of barriers and life, he felt more like a museum. Open to the public but unresponsive. Without an immediate connection his face lacked the level of expression she was so used to being able to read, but even so she felt that the situation had them set in a bad way.
"I'm going to pick you up." The declaration would have sounded more compelling if he hadn't had to sniff away the tears that threatened to spill over in the moment. "With luck there is a Vurk settlement nearby... But we also need flesh water to clean your wound." It sounded stupid, he knew. But he also had to do something. Logic wasn't sticking in his head, he was gripping at the swiftly moving thoughts but unable to catch one.
She groaned, "Ben...your head feels scrambled, you aren't thinking clearly..." He felt an indignant flash at her accusation and then had to smile. At least she was aware enough to admonish him. "...I don't even think you're connected to your Force...It feels like something has broken the connection." He reached for the connection instinctively, finding it buzzing in his head but ineffective.
"...I hit my head...It's temporary." He ignored the case studies that he was recalling where a head injury had been caused to eliminate a user's connection to the Force. Like a lobotomy, or a stroke, it's like your mind lost the connection. He could still feel a dim thrum of it at his fingertips, but the absence in his mind was eerie. Even so, it also gave him a sense of peace. As fuzzy as he felt, he also noted an almost pleasant quiet, free from the chaotic waves that threatened to pull him under and pull him into temper so often. Ignoring her trained eyes on him was much easier when he couldn't actually feel her trying to step into his mind, Ben reached beneath her delicately to lift her from the sand. She made almost a valley with her body, undoubtedly having squirmed during the hours they slept until she ridged into the sand like she was trying to make roots. He got his arms under her delicately, leaning toward her as he shifted his legs so that he could lift her onto his lap before standing. However, the moment he put his hands under her right thigh, she cried out in alarm, straining against him.
"Fuck...fuck..." Her hands flew again, attempting to swat him off, pull him closer, and to desist his movement all at once. Her chest heaved and she'd begun shaking again and the clenched jaw painted the very clear reality that he could not move her. Given that the injury to her femur meant that he couldn't lift her to fit in between his arms, also meant he couldn't put her on his back for the same reason. Suddenly the valley of sand she'd sunk into looked far more like a coffin than a bed.
Attempting to stay calm was useless but he tried anyway. "I have patches, they won't do you much good, but they will help the skin..." He didn't really want to put them on her, knowing that healing the skin around the open bone would not be good. But he had to do something. It was this drive that pushed him to the holster next to his saber. His hands brushed over the handle for a reverent second before he removed the strips from their, thankfully, water proof packing. The strips were small, meant to be used as a temporary patch for when reinforcements would show up with more extensive supplies, but they were something. " I can't move you like this, but I'm well enough to move." He didn't even know if he was telling the truth, and even through her heat she looked at him with a level understanding that he was being an idiot. He ignored the look more easily now that he couldn't feel the questioning of his sanity through their connection.
"I'll be back before the sun comes up..." He thoughtfully glanced at the moons above them. From where they've landed he guessed that was only in a couple hours. He would go no further than an half hour walk in one direction and then promptly circle back. He took two steps back from her to realize how small she was on the sand. And even that did not betray the immense importance that she held. It might have even increased it. "I'll be back..." His voice had faded to the point where he thought that she wouldn't hear it but she nodded with her eyes closed.
Unwilling to glance back at her, Ben's legs began running before he even made the conscious choice that walking was not a luxury he felt like utilizing.
...
The first bones he tripped over were so embedded in the soil that he wouldn't have distinguished them at all if they weren't so entirely massive. Staring harder at this obstacle put horror into the basis of his spine- this thing was massive. What he'd tripped over looked like the center of a massive tail and his eyes followed it's jumbled path to realize that a the decomposing mass of bones undoubtedly belonged to a Beast. The Zillo Beast were endangered and not extinct, and despite reading about them it was hard to imagine the scope of their size until he stood on its remains. Even with the rib cage smashed in its side stood taller than he was. It wouldn't have been so incredibly alarming if it wasn't for the fact they were not supposed to be native to this planet. Not even close. Feeling a sudden sense of urgency despite the fact he was still well within the time limit he'd given to Enwa, Ben backed away from the sight as if it might decide to come back from the dead to surprise him.
It wasn't supposed to be here, it was wrong. And even with a fuzzy head and aching limbs the dread that was creeping up to the back of his spine was enough to make a nest in his cerebellum. This was enough for him to begin running in the opposite direction, back toward the shore, back toward the girl lying alone in the dark. His head pounded and he barley stopped moving even to throw up again off the barley visible path he followed back. He knew he had a concussion, but there wasn't a whole lot to do with it except bear it and hope it didn't kill him.
When he got back to the shore, his feet finally beginning to dig into the sand, he ripped into the clearing and frantically scoured the sand for her huddled mass. His first horrifying thought was that he had taken the wrong direction back and he was already starting to meander in the other direction before he nearly stumbled across the footprints that lead to the grooves that Enwa had dug into the sand.
"No..." The dread screamed at him from its new home at the base of his skull- fear seemed to have overtaken the absence of his direct connection to the Force. He could almost imagine her screaming for him in his head. Long past was the hope that maybe she had been taken by some of the Nomadic Vurks, even though that was wholly possible. He tore off in the direction of the footsteps, blindly flying with the fear that propelled him that was being seated into a desperate rage that pushed away all thoughts of his own injury. When he heard the clicking language weaving itself through the trees after about a half a mile he finally slowed enough to put a hand on his saber to draw it. Without a thought of plan or circumstance, he plunged into the tiny forest clearing.
The denizens among it reacted with a comical level of fear, shrinking from him like he was the Best he'd found before. Ben, in fact, almost smiled at it. Naturally, he couldn't see himself standing with a saber, wretched, dirty and blazing aggression but the ones in the area could.
"Where is she?! Where is the Force user that you took from the ocean-side?" He barked the inquiry over their still surprised reactions. His arm shook from adrenaline but the blade was steady. He knew this was not how a Jedi ought to act, knew it, and yet he felt even more elated. This wasn't how anything was supposed to be, so why should he be the only reliable variable.
"S-sir!" The Vurk closest to his left was the first to pipe out a protest, Ben turned fractionally toward him but not enough to let any of the others out of his peripheral vision. "She's in the tent... She's in a bad way..." Ben's eyes turned more obviously this time to the makeshift camp they had set up. Four humans, two Vurks, and someone who looked like they might be part Suwant mixed with something else entirely. And all of them were some male variant which wasn't helping his sudden possessiveness toward the other Padawan.
"We took her to help her..." He heard the continuing explanation but proceeded to ignore it, striding toward the tent with a newfound purpose. He ripped it open, peering inside at a very unconscious looking Enwa. It looked like they cleaned her wounds, set her leg, and washed off her face but that wasn't enough to pacify him just yet. "We have a Force sensitive individual who felt her... It took a while to get to her, we didn't know she had a companion for sure... Though she did keep shouting for one...We thought she was delusional." Cluing back into the hesitant voice he whirled to face all of them. His saber still held low to his side, but glowing brightly in the new morning light, they all looked to him with fear. It was frustrating not being able to feel out how the story echoed in the Vurk's head, but he decided that it seemed truthful for now.
Seemingly relieved a human piped in. "We put her to sleep but she was unconscious beforehand, we also gave her something for the fever that's set in from the sick bone."
"What are you doing here?" Ben said the statement slowly, having difficulty coming to terms with the fact that he would not have an outlet for his frustration at the entire situation. Leave it to him to run into help just when all he wanted to do was slash at an obstacle.
The human seemed to understand but unable to form a suitable response and the head lowered. The Vurk that spoke before took this as his cue to step back in. "Me and my brother found them, they were brought here by the Suwant Prince. He betrayed them and they escaped."
Ben's mind clicked back to the mission he was supposed to be on with dawning realization. "That's who we were sent to save..." He said almost wondrously now, clicking off his saber. "He was a traitor? How?" The Vurk looked back to the human from the group, but it appeared that man had said all he could.
It was finally another human who hadn't spoken that piped back. "He'd been propositioned by some cult... We don't know everything but he was promised power by the same people who are now controlling this planet... You're the first ones to land here alive for months."
Ben didn't know he was holding much hope in himself, didn't know there was any room for it in his anger, but it was that moment that it popped in a lethargic leak. He wondered if he would be sick again. If it wasn't just an isolated incident, then it was undoubtedly going to make it difficult or impossible for them to be rescued. He doubted Master Skywalker, Uncle Luke, would ever give up on his Padwan, but it certainly wasn't going to make the process easy. Realizing now that his initial mission was impossible Ben felt a pull to another set of objectives.
"Who else have you run into? The other Vurks didn't help you?" Ben's question had the air of command and he wasn't surprised when they answered, but he was surprised that it wasn't the talkative Vurk who responded.
Instead, the human again said in a quiet voice, "The Vurks were taken long before... There is hardly anyone left on this planet, at least none that we could find."
Ben felt himself fall further, suddenly remembering the bones that jut out from the earth as an affront to every text that had ever told them of the Zillo Beast's extinction. "...What have they been doing? What's their objective?"
The other Vurk spoke up at this time, his voice venomous. "They are monsters they come here and took my family, took us all to work for them. Told us that they would protect us from invaders but we did not know the truth of them until it was too late...Until they'd had us all gathered and took us over easily." He hung his head now, his extended head being a mark of Vurk age that Ben only knew a bit about. He'd guessed the being before him was at least three times his age. "We now wander looking for anyone else that might have escaped their notice, but they appear very thorough." His face twisted up into a universal sign of pain. "They have brought even more monsters with them, experiments... They are building something of an incredible size, and they are using the volcanic energy of the planet... That's what we've been able to make out."
Finally, Ben put his head into his hands. "...How did the council not know about this...?" He closed his eyes only for a moment, head spinning.
"You are not in a good way, traveler. You should rest."
Ben absolutely did not want to do that. But now that the adrenaline wore off he felt the effects of every injury their very bumpy landing had taken on him. "I will..." He heard himself say, nodding to all of them. Without further preamble he crawled into the tent, not bothering to take off his boots which had a questionable amount of sand and mud in them. He dragged himself next to her cot, happy to lay on the makeshift floor. He fell asleep to the sight of her slacked face, and his hand subconsciously reached out to put a finger on her pulse as if he could will her healthy by his fingertip.
...
When he awoke, he knew it was not his own thoughts that flickered in his head. Like a dam had broken he felt the whispers with almost a comical level of gratitude. He listened to his own insecurities, his own desires and entertained them for a second. Entertained the pulling dark that so often licked at his heels in these moments between the waking world and this one. He pushed them away as he opened his eyes, his arm still extended but not having a purchase any longer. He closed his eyes again, feeling through the whispers for her pull and he felt the dead zone somewhere outside the tent with a spark of alarm.
He scrambled out of the tent to the sight of half the camp around a makeshift table and they appeared to be squabbling. "What are you doing?" He demanded, his tone slurring from the effects of a very heavy sleep. But at least he didn't feel like the action was about to make him throw up, which would have made him a bit less intimidating.
"She's been asleep long enough, the sedatives are well circulated in her system where we are confident she won't wake up for the procedure."
Ben shook his head of the cobwebs that still stung stubbornly, but already the voice in his head whispered darkly over them referring to her like that. He took a few steps toward them, his hand itching to go to his lightsaber. It was at that moment his eyes flickered to the fresh water, the leaves... and the sharp blade that they had next to her makeshift table.
"No!" The ferocity in the words made them clear away from him before he even moved toward them. "What in the Stars do you think this will accomplish? She will be a Jedi they're going to heal her in the bacta tanks once we get back!" He already pulled himself over to her prone form, standing in front of her. He hadn't remembered taking his saber out but it got all of them out of his way with a satisfying speed.
"See reason, traveler!"
Reason had no place between himself and this untrustworthy creatures.
"You can't cut her leg off!" He demanded clearly as they shifted toward him as if to placate him but it only made his energy spike. The voice inside of him, his own voice, wanted to cut them down.
"It is incredibly unlikely that they will find you here... She will not live if she is not treated and she will only get sick from the leg that is now useless to her... We have no bacta tanks here."
Realizing now what had to be done, Ben clicked off the saber aggressively, turning his back on them only to scope her into his arms. It was a position that left him vulnerable, but he already jostled her disrespectfully enough to question himself and he wasn't about to feel her bone slip further through the hole in her skin by accidentally breaking the slit further.
"Stay away from us..." He muttered, his eyes dangerous. He felt like some snarling creature over a kill and without her calming energy reaching out to him he felt at least as dangerous as any monster he compared himself to.
It took all of 800 pecs for his arms to start to shake from her weight and he sat down with her still in his arms and resting in his lap. She hadn't so much as stirred and he was both grateful and terrified at the idea. Grateful because that meant that she wasn't feeling the pain of being carried with his arms resting on such a significant injury. But the horror set in at the idea that she hadn't woken. Once again he felt that cold feeling he had in the pod and he wondered briefly if it was death, and not some fearful illusion.
Suddenly renewed he got up and started walking aimlessly once more. Finally he'd gotten to a source of fresh water and had sat her down entirely, drinking his own fill. He hadn't eaten since the ship and he'd gotten sick multiple times since then. Hoping to fill some need for calories he ingested some of the matter he knew was edible. He thanked his Master, not something he often did, for making them so trained in the skills of survival. He'd made them carry weights as heavy as Enwa before and if it wasn't for his own injury, Ben would have been more capable to do so. With a short rest they would be able to be back on their feet, or his feet at least.
He made to push her hair out of her face to wipe the cool water onto her head, but the mess was so tangled his fingers quickly caught. Feeling a sudden urge to at least be able to fix something Ben began to run his fingers through the ends of her hair. It took a long time, and his back felt stiff from the required stillness after it's exertion but eventually he could at least move her hair without catching in the horrendous knots, and dirt, and sand. He took only a moment to stare at her then, unabashedly. She was often still, but almost never without the scowl that was currently absent. He felt stricken by the idea, suddenly that she was some strange sun that he was only in the orbit of. To make her human once more, he gathered her spread out hair and began to painstakingly braid into a plait as he'd often seen his mother done. If he had cared, he could have done the same to his own, but he felt somehow that he was doing something good for her, even if it was something that was so small.