Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: ok. It's time I do this legally. I'm gonna start saving up money to buy Star Wars. I already have $1.45. Shouldn't be too long 'til I save up enough.

"Seefor, spark the other… no, no, no! Not that one! Get away from there you great big orange, oaf headed, good for nothing…"

She could feel the warming presence approaching the X-Wing-in-repair.

"Seefor! Wait!"

Too late. Seefor had sent sparks through the cables and before she knew it, an electric shock had shot through her body causing her to also hit her head on the engines above her.

She rolled out from underneath the ship to see Luke leaning against a tree with a devilish smile prying his lips, Artoo next to him and Seefor beeping his way around the camp in triumph.

"Next time," Kat pointed to her mischievous astro-mech. "Don't try kill me on purpose… I hate painful deaths." She turned and kicked the side of the X-Wing.

"Did that help?" Luke slyly asked.

"Yes."

"Did it hurt?"

"Yes."

Kat sat down on the ground underneath the wing of her ship and held her right foot in agony.

Luke walked over and sat down in front on her, and started to wipe some of the muck off from the side of the ship. "What's wrong?"

Kat couldn't help but stare. That shirt, those arms and that hair…

"Kat, I know I'm nice to look at but right now I'm concerned about what's going on in that brain of yours."

Kat snapped out of her small trance and glared back at Luke. "Then you should stop being part of my inappropriate thoughts, blondie."

"Now that," he stared at the ground as his cheeks became rosier. "is something you haven't called me in a long time."

Kat looked on at Luke as the thoughts of him in the cave filled her mind again. She could no longer look at Luke the same way she had on Hoth. Now, she could see that he may easily become something so much viler than what he was.

What was it? A warning? A message? The future? She had these thoughts swimming in her head for days now. Not even at her Force abilities level could she tell herself what it was. But there was one thing for sure…

… she could not let the vision come true.

She would do anything to stop Luke turning from to the Dark Side, because Force knows what would happen then. As Yoda had told her the other day, it was Luke's destiny to bring back the Jedi; he was the hope.

After that conversation and recognising her Dark and inevitable abilities it was obvious that this was not the job the Force had given her.

Yoda had obviously told her, in private, the prophesy of the Chosen One. Kat was most certainly not the one to bring balance to the Force, seeing as she yielded the same powers as the leaders of the Empire, though did not think like them.

Master Yoda was referring to her as a Jedi, but Kat believed otherwise. And did not like it. She could use a Jedi's power, but also yielded the powers of something else, as it turned out.

When Luke would finally grasp the full power of the Light side of the Force, then he would bring balance to the Galaxy by defeating the Emperor and Darth Vader.

Kat still didn't understand what her role was, though. But she thought she had an idea.

"You've been thinking," Luke continued. "about us."

Kat knew that he was finally getting better at using his Force abilities, and was starting to sense her emotions more clearly.

"I- I don't know-"

"You do know. And now you know that I know. I can feel conflict within your mind. You're having drawbacks."

Luke was most certainly correct there.

After the cave, she had been thinking about what would be best for Luke. Sadly, her mind kept drifting off to a possible heartbreaking future.

"Maybe," she admitted. She never wanted to have this conversation. "I mean, things are going backwards for me, in a way. I thought everything was finally sorted out but it isn't. I want what's best for you and I need to get everything straight in my head."

Luke nodded and idly started down at the ground while fiddling with his shirt. All of a sudden, he had turned from a man to a vulnerable boy.

It was now that Kat had reached her conclusion. "I'm definitely not giving up on you, if that's what you're thinking." She said. "I remember when I was around… 15, I attempted to give up on everything because it was so complicated and fazed that I just didn't care anymore,"

Luke had heard this story before, but hadn't heard her go into small details about it ever. It wasn't exactly a cheery story.

"That was the biggest mistake of my life; giving up." she admitted. "Kriff, I won't do the same you. I need you…"

She scratched around the implant on her head that had fused to her skin. "You shouldn't do that." Luke reached out for her wrist and gently removed her hand from her face.

"You try having a cybernetic enhancement." She complained as Luke moved to take his seat next to Kat. "Mine's an absolute schutta at night."

"Don't swear." He said as he placed both hands on either side of her face to inspect the implant along with the eye.

"You have your moments."

"Not every tick of the chrono, though." He wiped a bit of dirt off the implant.

"Well, the chrono must be ticking, because I can feel the frustration rolling off your skin like that avalanche back on Hoth."

"Yeah, and you caused it." He slid his arms around her body and brought her close to him.

"Hey!" she looked up at him with a frown. "In my defence, when we were scouting that round it was Seefor who decided to take me up that hill, and it was also him that decided to push me down so it wasn't my fault that I blocked off one of the corridors!"

"Ok, firstly, you sound as if Rieekan is confronting you; calm down. And secondly, it was hilarious from where Han and I were standing."

"Shut up."

"Han fell over himself from laughing so hard."

"Do not mutter another word or your death will look like an accident."

Luke looked down onto her face and smiled, taking in every perfect flaw she owned. From the scars on the left hand side of her body to how her prosthetic eye was a slightly different shade of green from the real one. The stories that hid under her gloves to her small, tiny height, and the necessity that she had to have two blaster pistols instead of one.

"I am very glad to have acted on teenage thoughts back on Yavin." He concluded. "Because I really do love you.

"Thank the Maker for Luke's hormonal instincts then." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Kat!"

"You just basically said the same thing except in a less technical, more romantic way."

Luke sighed and let the moment of relaxation calm him down.

Knowing that Kat wasn't giving up so easily, relieved him even more.

And the fact that she had grown so much since he first met her, how independent and strong she had become…

… he was so incredibly proud of her.

"You're still tense." Kat felt the calmness emitting off him, but there was still that tingling of tension. "What's wrong?"

Her head was lifted up and down by his chest as he sighed. "It's just so hard," he said. "The Force doesn't come naturally to me. You had it so easy."

"But at a price." Kat corrected him. A rather large bill about as long as my name.

He took a deep, calming breath in and kissed the top of her head.

"But, tension can be removed by kissing on the lips, ya know?"

Luke rolled his eyes, but accepted the offer anyway. "Don't suppose Master Yoda suspects there's something going on between us?"

"Please don't talk of Yoda when you're about to kiss me."

"Use the Force. Yes..."

Kat found it very hard not to laugh at the sight in front of her. Sitting on a storage container from Luke's X-Wing she searched through possible Alliance contacts on a datapad, while watching Luke stand on his hands with Master Yoda clinging to his leg as he stacked stones with his knowledge of the Force.

Yoda tapped Luke's leg with his stick, telling Luke to lift one arm off the ground. His body slightly wavered, but he managed to keep balance.

Artoo was standing nearby, whistling and beeping frantically. Seefor was stationed next to Kat, but unusually remained calmer than the blue astromech.

"Now... the stone. Feel it." Yoda instructed.

Artoo kept beeping unnecessarily. "Artoo!" Kat scolded. "No, it's not witchcraft! Let him concentrate… what do you mean 'it's sinking'? What's sinking?"

Luke, now entirely distracted, began to drop all the rocks and, to Yoda's disadvantage, fall over.

"Concentraaaaaaaate!" the old Jedi Master wailed as he toppled to the ground.

Kat prayed that Yoda couldn't sense her amusement.

Annoyed at the disturbance, Luke looked over at Artoo, who was now rocking urgently back and forth in front of him.

Artoo waddled, chirping wildling, as he made his way to the edge of the swamp. Catching on, Luke rushed to the water's edge to see his X-Wing sinking so it sat underneath the water.

"Oh, no." he complained. "We'll never get it out now."

"So certain are you?" Yoda tilted his head to the side. "Always with you it cannot be done. Hear younothing that I say?"

Luke looked out uncertainly at the ship. Kat could only hope that he would learn.

"Moving stones around is one thing; this is totally different!" Luke exasperated.

"No! No different!" Yoda stamped his stick. "Only different in your mind! You must unlearn what you have learned."

Kat was confused by Yoda's lesson.

"All right, I'll give it a try." Luke sighed. Kat came to the realisation of what he was about to attempt and nearly dropped her datapad.

"No! Try not." Yoda instructed. "Do. Or do not. There is no try."

Luke, uncertain of his statement, closed his eyes and outstretched his arm, concentrating on thinking the ship out of the water anyway.

Slowly, the X-Wing began to rise above the water. It hovered for a moment, then slid back into the murky swamp, disappearing once again.

Luke trudged back to the Jedi Master and sat down, nearly collapsing. "I can't," he panted. "It's too big."

Kat had to bite on her lip to stop herself saying something entirely inappropriate.

"Size matters not." Yoda stated. "Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hm?"

Luke shook his head, not even having to look at Kat to know she'd quote that to Han or Wedge, or any of the other Rogues for that matter, when they teased her about her small height.

"And well you should not. For my ally in the Force, and a powerful ally it is." Yoda explained. "Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we..." he said as he pinched Luke's muscular shoulder. "... not this crude matter." He made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you... me... Silver Girl… the tree... the rock... everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that ship."

Kat found herself smiling at that little speech, because even at Yoda's monstrous age, he just… knew.

Even when they first landed on Dagobah a few weeks back, Yoda had given Kat the courage to become a Jedi, even though she had doubted herself.

She still may do so, but she had at least gained the confidence to wield a lightsaber in her hands now.

Luke, feeling more doubtful and discouraged and ever, stood up. "You want the impossible." And stood up to make his way under one of the trees.

Kat switched her datapad off and swung off the storage container and stood next to Yoda. He motioned towards the X-Wing in the swamp, as if this were Kat's job.

"No, no, master." Kat shook her head. "I now have no doubt that I could do it, but this one's yours." She explained. "Our sizes may not matter, but the smaller the being, the bigger the impact."

Yoda glanced up at her with a smile and a certain glint in his eyes. "So wise, even for me, for one so young."

"I appreciate the compliment but I doubt 'wise' is the best word to describe me."

"Wise, you most certainly are," Yoda continued. "independent, strong, but also obedient." He turned his head back towards the X-Wing, with a look on his face as though his thoughts brought him great pain. "much like your mother, you are."

Hell, Kat didn't even have to look at his face to see his pain. She could feel the coldness emitting off him.

That was the closest Yoda had ever been to the Dark Side.

Quietly Yoda's eyes closed and he bowed his head, raising one arm at the ship.

Kat stepped back as she stared at the X-Wing rising above the water towards the land.

Luke came out from his spot under a tree, and to much disbelief, watched the X-Wing land softly on the shore, and placed his hand on it just to make sure it was real.

He ran over to Yoda, who had now seated himself on a tree root, while Kat stood next to the water line of the swamp.

"I don't... I don't believe it." Luke breathed out.

Yoda concluded bluntly. "That is why you fail."

Well, that does it. Hell Above: The Sound of Silence is officially longer than Young Blood. It actually happened around one or two chapters ago but ASDFGHJKL ANOTHER 10 POINTS TO YODA-IS-COOL.

And yes, I know, two weeks for me is a long time to have not updated. But, in the inspirational words of Farnsworth, "Good news, everyone!" I have finally got the whole story down pat! In other words, I know exactly what happens in the prequels and ROTJ and onwards. So yes, I finally know what mischief Kat gets up to in ROTJ, and after aggressively having a prequels marathon, what Nadae, Kat's mother, and co., gets up to.

Also, in the entire thing there's a total of six damned OC's. Heheheh, you lot only know of three.

Also, in the case of the unlikely confusion, yes, V'kala and Nadae are biological brother and sister. Kat was raised by her actual uncle. So basically he had the white-hair gene as well.

Speaking of gene's, her hair is a clue to who one of her ancestors is. Also, more importantly, her middle name. IF NO ONE DECODES IT SOON MY GOD I'LL PULL OUT MY HAIR BECAUSE I WANT SOMEONE TO FIND OUT SO MUCH. IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO WHAT KAT "IS".

Don't worry, some of it will subtly be hinted in the next instalment.

- yoda-is-cool.