Hello friends! I hope you are all enjoying this story so far. Thank you once again for your continued support and participation. I've been suffering from a bad flu, but I promise this story is far from finished :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any characters, creature, planets, etc.
Bastila POV
They had all rose at the crack of dawn to make up for the time lost the day before. Bastila stretched out on the small couch that her and Carth had crashed on the night before, bones crackeling with every twist and turn she did to stretch out her tense limbs. Muscles protested vehemently as she peeled herself off of the couch and picked up the thick wool blanket that was now in a pile on the floor. She tried to hold back a fit of laughter as she watched Mission wake suddenly and immediately scruntch her small nose up in the air before speaking hoarsly, "What the heck is that smell!"
When everyone remained silent, holding back laughter, her eyes grew twice their size before she quickly choked out "On second thought, don't tell me."
Everyone was now up and about, gathering all their possessions, which were few, to take with them on their journey to find a deranged wookie who was terrorizing the jungles of Kashyyyk. Bastila watched everyone scaramble to get out of the small shack that now reaked of an unpleaseantly pungent aroma that Jolee had brewed up. She could only hope that it wasn't their lunch. She let her mind wandered to the anomoly that was Revan for the thousandth time since their oddly intimate meeting in the woods the night before. She vaugely recalled him coming back to the hut lat night, but that was well after midnight when everyone had been fast asleep.
Maybe he was avoiding her, maybe he was ashamed of what could have transpired in the forest, she had no idea. All she could remeber was the shocked look that had captured his features last night as he looked down in to her eyes. It was as if he had realized something, something important. Whatever it was, she had no time to ponder it because she was dragged out of her thoughts by Canderous' deep voice, "So what's the plan?"
Bastila spoke up from her position she had taken up in the rear of the group, purposely avoiding Revan. "Jolee knows the forrest better than any of us. I think he should lead us to the area where he's seen the wookie."
That's when she saw Revan for the first time since their encounter. He was slightly disheveled and had slight purple rigs under his green eyes, making them look even more prominent. He looked as if he hadn't slept a wink last night. She watched carefully as he ran a hand through his long locks, moving it out of his face which was laced with an expression of worry. She vaugely wondered if she had done this to him. If she had caused him to lose sleep at night. Maybe he was worried about the bond? The bond. Bastila almost forgot about the bond. Maybe she could use it now? She was curious to see if this would work. Closing her eyes, she reached out through the force, feeling Revan's distinct signature hesitating breifly before latching onto it in one quick motion.
She was surprised by the exhaustion that she felt rolling off of him in waves, but that wasn't what surprised her the most. She pushed further, following his thoughts as they drifted to herself. Only he wasn't thinking of her in the context that a man usually would think of a woman, it was different. He was scared? She held back a yelp of surprise as she was forcefully shoved from his thoughts. Aware that she was caught red handed, she snapped her eyes open to meet his firm glare. He was mad, very mad. She couldn't help but feel guilty for snooping around in his mind. Surely that wasn't something people did to him and got away with it. She swallowed the large lump that has rose up in her throat as he moved his eyes to the front of the pack and brushed past her, "Lead the way old man."
She fell to the back of the group, once again, to give Revan his space to cool off. Standing next to Canderous now, she found peace in the walk through nature. The air around them was crisp, with a slight hint of something sweet. The amount of green that took up the forrest was astonishing to her. She tried not to protest when Canderous broke the peacefull silence as he shouted up to Revan at the front of the group, "How are we going to get the wookie back?"
Bastila responded quickly, not wanting to know what Revan would do to get a savage wookie under control, especially with the mood she knew he was in. "We will negotiate something with him when we get there."
She could feel the sting of his reply even before he spoke up. Revan shouted back to her, not willing to turn around and talk to her, "Negotiate? I'm sorry but last time you tried to 'negotiate' with wookies we ended up in cages."
Her hands immediatey shot to her hips in defense as she spat back at him, "Well what do you suppose we do?"
She watched as he slowly turned around to face her and opened his mouth to respond, but never got the chance as Mission yelled out behind them, "Duck!"
Bastila quickly dodged a large paw that extended towards her face, missing it by just an inch. The movement happened too fast for her to respond properly and she quickly found herself toppling to the ground. She braced herself for the sudden impact, but was surprised when Canderous reached out and caught her from behind. She scrambled out of his arms and balanced herself as she ignighted her twin blades in one swift movement. Bathed in a dull yellow light, she watched as the wookie froze where he stood in front of her. It took her a moment to realize that the wookie was paralyzed as she watched the old man peer out at her from behind him, canister of the strange smelling liquid in his hands. Jolee dusted his hands off as he walked over to Revan, "That should last for a couple of minutes. Better talk fast."
The group watched on surprise as Revan conversed with the wookie who seemed to be growing even more irritated by the minute. As Jolee's homemade drug began to wear off, Bastila could feel the worry coming off of Revan in waves. He was worried about the safety of the group and he wasn't shielding that from her in the least. Thinking fast, Bastila took a seat on the ground as she felt the force moving around her and enveloping her. As it consumed her she carefully manipulated it, creating a sense of peace and tranquility around her. She then took that tranquility and extended the range of her meditation to the surrounding group. It only took seconds before the irrate roars of the wookie died down to a more conversational tone. As soon as she was confident it had worked, she opened her eyes and stood. All eyes were on her as she dusted off her robes, trying not to blush at the amazement coming off of the group that was directed at her. Revan gave her a short nod and she let a small smile play on her face. He was still mad at her, but hopefully this made up for her actions earlier.
An awkward silence fell between the crew before Canderous spoke up, "I have no idea what kind of weird force magic princess used, but what did he say?"
Revan gave one last look at the wookie to make sure he wasn't going to attack before he cleared his throat and began, "He calls himself Freyyr. He's... Chuundar and Zaalbar's father."
Mission spoke out in surprise, "Big Z's dad? I thought he was dead!"
Revan continued to retell what Frayar had told him. "Chuundar bannished him shortly after Zaalbar was exiled and immediately took charge of their village, Rwookrrorro. He seems leery about trusting us, but is willing to accept out help. Also something about a blade?"
Everyone turned their gaze to Jolee who had exclaimed, "Ahh Bacca's ceremonial blade."
"He said the only way to restore balance in their village is to locate the blade an bring it back. Do you have any idea where the blade is located?" Revan asked the old man.
Jolee grimanced before he replied, "Yes, but you're not going to like this."
Bastila watched as Revan's eyes narrowed before he demanded, "Where is it?"
"In a terentatek nearby."
Carth exclaimed from Bastila's side, "I'm sorry in? As in inside of it?"
Mission took up a confident stance as she stood infront of the men who were all at least a head taller than her, and spoke up, "If it helps free Big Z,then i'm in."
Revan gave the small girl a small smile as he replied, "Okay, then it's settled. Let's go get this blade."
Revan followed Jolee's lead before he quickly stopped and held his hand out to the others. He motioned for Canderous to remain close by for back up and lightly force pushed Bastila and the others behind them. Bastila tried to protest but he simply held a hand out to stop her and motioned for her to keep quiet. A cold chill ran it's course through Bastila's body as a shrill skreetch sliced through the air. Before anyone could react, a large creature appeared in front of them and shot a long spiked arm out towards Canderous. Purple light engulfed the forrest as Revan force pushed the beast back and artfully flipped over it to distract it from Canderous.
Bastila mimicked the same process she used just minutes ago as she sat on the earth below them and began to manipulate the force. Something wasn't right about the creature though. She pushed against the force, trying to mold it into something calm and tranquil, but the beast fought back, somehow blocking her meditation. Bastila could feel the exhausting effects of the battle meditation as she fought hard to help Revan, but to no avail. Bastila was aggressively pulled from her meditation when a sharp scream sounded in front of her. Grey eyes shot open and was met with pitch black ones that were filled with nothing but darkness and pain. She took a sharp inhale in, expecting to meet her fate, but watched in disgust as a violet beam shot through the midsection of the beast and sliced it effectively in half. A slimy spray misted her face and she rushed to wipe of the liquid as she held back her breakfast that was now threatening to make a reappearance.
The large creature fell to the ground as Revan gripped the ancient looking blade and held it up in the air. Sounds of disgust sounded through the air before Mission turned to face the wookie, "Come on papa Z, let's restore your village to its rightfull state!"
"You coming kid?" Canderous asked Revan.
Bastila watched carefully as the Sith Lord was lost in thought. He brushed off the excess slime from his terentatek disection moments ago as he replied, "You guys go ahead, I have something I need to take care of."
The rest of the group had made their way in the direction they had come from as Mission yelled back, "Don't get yourself killed."
Revan let out a small chuckle as he patted the girl on the shoulder, "I'll try not to Mish."
Bastila watched as the rest of the group had made their way further away from Revan. She could not find herself willing to leave and found Carth staring back at her, as if he was waiting for her to catch up with them. When she didn't budge, he gave her a questioning look before his gaze fell on Revan. Their silent conversation presisted as Carth quickly began shaking his head to tell her not to stay alone with the Sith Lord, but her mind was already made up. Bastila carefully gave him a nod indicating she would be fine and he gave her a subtle nod back, but she couldn't miss the overwhelming sense of discomfort coming off of him from leaving her behind with Revan. She was pulled from her own thoughts when Revan's deep voice sliced through the air. "What are you doing?"
Turning around to face him, Bastila took in his appearance; arms crossed over chest and a deep scowl on his face. She couldn't help but feel like she was a small child being punished for doing something wrong. Sure she felt bad for eavesdropping in his mind earlier, but she would not have him belittle her; She could do whatever she wanted. Plus she wanted to make sure he wasn't planning mass destruction or anything of the sorts. Crossing her arms over her chest, copying his own stance she spoke up matter-of-factly, "I'm coming with you."
Much to her suprise, he simply turned around and motioned for her to follow, "Fine, just try to keep up."
The silence between the two had been uncomfortable to say the least, but it was something Bastila was thankful for. She was having a hard time gaging how to start up a conversation with Revan that didn't involve yelling and sarcastic comments. It was a srange occurance when Revan had nothing sarcastic or whitty to say, and she suddenly knew what had to be done. Her soft accented voice broke throuh the silence gently, "I'm sorry."
Despite her soft approach to her apology, Revan's tone was still filled with annoyance, "Bastila Shan apologizing? To what do I own the pleasure?"
She let out a sigh, willing herself to remain calm. No progress would be made if she lost her composure and yelled at him. "I shouldn't have looked around your mind like that. It was rude, and I'm sorry... I was just curious."
Silence filled the air once again when Revan didn't respond. As uncomfortable as she felt in this situation, Bastial still felt guilty. It wasn't often that someone ignored her, not to mention an apology from her. She was headstrong, she knew, but she was willing to apologize when she knew she was wrong. Tne fact that Revan ignored her desperate attemot at an apology irritated her, but she continued trying to make conversation. "You kow, I was actually quite surprised."
"About?"
She should be careful about what she said, but she was curious as to what she had discovered about the dark lord and was not going to pass up the opportunity to figure out more about him. "That you were scared. I didn't think that was possible for you, dark lord of the sith, slayer of villages to be scared."
He had stopped walking now and turned around to face her. His expression was serious as he edged in closer to her. "Everyone's scared of something Bastila."
Her stomatch twisted as she was filled with a strange sense of dejavu, but she would not be intimidated by him anymore. She let out a breath and closed the space between them even further and she spoke softly, "And what are you scared of Darth Revan?"
Holding back a smirk, Bastila watched as he fumbled for words to say. What she saw etched into his face was surprising. He was afraid. Was he afraid of her? "I-."
Before he could finish, he was cut off by a loud mechanical voice, "Identification."
Bastila moved away from him and stared at the chunk of metal the lay hidden behind mounds of green ivy. "Is that?"
"Yes."
"Identification. Retinal scan required for access."
Bastila watched curiously as Revan moved closer to the machine, placing his face in front of a glowing panel. A red light shot out from the device and danced across Revan's face before disappearing. "Identification accepted. Please state your command."
Revan calmly responded, "I need you to display the map to the star forge."
This confused Bastila. Hadn't he already known where the star forge was? Why did he need the map. She decided to question him. "I thought you already knew where the star forge was?"
"I do, but Malak doesn't."
"Your apprentice didn't know where the Star Forge was? Wasn't he curious?"
"I never trusted him enough. The Star Forge can be very dangerous. Only a select few people know its location."
A loud beeping noise resounded through the air as the light quickly turned to an ominous shade of red. "Request denied."
Revan frowned back at the machine, anger growing. "What do you mean request denied? I programmed you!"
"Please state identification acess code."
"Revan."
The machine immediately set off a loud alarm, causing Bastila to jump back. She cupped her hands around her ears and she watch Revan pound and press different buttons on the control panel in an attempt to shut the alarm off. When the sound increased, Bastila yelled at him over the blaring alarms. "what did you do?"
Waves of anger were flowing off of Revan in a steady pace as he slammed his fists against the machine. "I don't know. Something isn't right."
Bastila was staring to grow annoyed with the steady beeps. Shooting back sarcastically, "You don't say?"
There wasn't much time to react when the familiar sound blaster fire rained through the air. Turning around to face the sound, Bastila was met with a sharp pain in her amdomen, followed by a warm sensation. She looked down to see her tunic growing crimson with her own blood. She didn't know if it was the sight of the blood or the wound it's self but she was growing extremely dizzy. She could hear the faint sound of a lightsaber lightsaber igniting in the distance as another bullet met her right shoulder. Not able to support herself any longer, Bastila fell to the ground in a heap. The only thing she remembered was Revan's voice yelling out her name before everything went black.
