Song: "The Chain," by Ingrid Michaelson, from the album Everybody.

A/N: This chapter opens with a flashback.

Chapter Twenty-Four: World Of Promises

So glide away on soapy heels,

And promise not to promise anymore.

And if you come around again,

Then I will take the chain from off the door.

From her place in the pilot's seat of the Spiral Dance, Johari Senna's face was turned towards the stars. Her gaze, however, was inward.

Hours ago, she and Atreus had left Humbarine, and although she had scrubbed her hands for some time, she felt as though she could still feel the dirt beneath her nails; planting the kina flower seeds had been painstaking work, but in the end they had managed to sow the entirety of the desolate field over the course of a day or so. Perhaps one day life would return to Humbarine.

Johari hoped that she never had to.

Though he had not said as much, she figured that Atreus had felt a similar way, for almost the moment they'd entered hyperspace he'd excused himself from the cockpit and gone to his cabin to meditate. Since they'd arrived on the decimated world he'd been unusually solemn, and she thought back to the stories he'd told her of his and Tully's brief time on Humbarine; the story itself was unremarkable for one that took place during the Clone Wars that had ended a few years ago, but she was able to read between his words, and therefore could sense his deeper feelings of guilt and regret.

Additionally, she'd seen the set of his shoulders as he knelt in the dirt, pressing flower seeds into the ground, and read the tension in his face even after she'd gently said that they'd done all they could, and that it was time to go. He'd not resisted, only let out a quiet sigh and gave a nod that looked uncommonly old on his slender frame.

Now he was meditating. She hoped that the action would bring him a measure of peace.

Jo sighed and ran her hand through her hair, toying with the strands before glancing over at the navacomputer: all appeared to be well. They had several hours of hyperspace travel before they were set to reach their next destination, and she figured that it would be a wise idea to set the autopilot and try to get some sleep while she could. But she wasn't tired, not really.

A soft, repetitive tapping sound made her sit up in mild alarm, only to frown when she realized that it was her own foot against the floor; it was an insignificant action on its own, but Jo recognized what her body was telling her, and knew that she needed to find a release for her restlessness. After checking the nav one last time, she rose and made her way to the cargo hold, the only place large enough on the Spiral Dance to perform her karanas, her own kind of moving meditations.

Naturally, her first choice was kohia, the calming, central foundation to all of the other movements, and the most logical place to begin a series of karanas. In the past, kohia was a surefire way to bring about a state of relaxation to her, or to any Echani, for that matter, but something was amiss today. Rather than allow her body to melt into the motions, Jo found that her arms didn't want to cooperate, and her legs felt leaden and cumbersome. Her breath was short and her heart skittered uncomfortably in her chest, because all she could think of was Humbarine.

An entire planet...billions of lives – obliterated.

For what?

She'd seen enough of the aftermath of the Wars and heard Atreus' commentary on the matter to know the truth: that they had been a lie. The Clone Wars had merely been another battle in the ancient war of Sith against Jedi, with the entire galaxy suffering the casualties.

Kohia wasn't working out as she needed, so Jo extended her arms a bit more into the next set of movements, hoping that the more complex form of jorma would provide her with a bit of much-needed distraction. It worked for a few minutes, and she found that she was able to quiet her mind while urging her body to shift into the familiar, sweeping patterns that were indicative of this form.

But the calm didn't last, and her mind turned again to the past. How many of her fellow Rangers had been killed during the course of the Wars? How many Jedi? And the clones...Tully had never spoken of it directly, but Mira had told her that he experienced nightmares filled with the shouts of dying brothers.

Belatedly, Johari realized that her hands were shaking and her throat was tight, so she took a deep breath and tried to release the anxiety into one of the broader movements of tandu, which she normally refrained from. Her arms swung wide as her feet shifted her body in series of blindingly fast, complex, concentric circles that would have made a non-Echani's head spin. Anything to drown out her thoughts, anything to bring herself a measure of calm.

"Jo."

The sound of Atreus' voice stunned her to stillness, though she dropped to her knees in the next moment and pressed her hands to her cheeks because the skin of her face was wet for some reason. Atreus said her name again and she felt rather than heard his stride as he crossed the room and knelt beside her, placing a light hand on her shoulder. "Johari."

How his voice shaped her name...it was too much. Her longing was too sharp to ignore, and the sorrow that had consumed her heart was too large for her to look away from, but she was at a loss of what to do, because her body refused to move anymore.

And then he was embracing her, pressing her to his chest and stroking her hair, murmuring soft words of comfort that she would forget, later.

They sat together for some time until she found her voice and her composure. Brushing away the last of her tears, Jo leaned back and gave him a weak smile that he managed to return, and she wondered if he'd sensed the change in her emotions through the Force, or if he just knew her that well. "Thank you."

After a moment he shifted so that his legs were crossed and his back was straight, though he remained at her side, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body. "I envy you, you know."

"Why?"

She watched his lips twitch as if holding back a joke. Finally he shrugged. "Miralukans can't cry as most Near-Humans. It seems like a...good kind of release."

Johari wrinkled her brow at his words. "That's an odd thing to be jealous of."

"Well, I've never been mistaken for a sensible man." They each chuckled at this, though silence soon overtook them. Jo's thoughts had returned to Humbarine; Atreus' must have as well, for his next words were without levity. "How long will we feel the effects of the Wars, I wonder?"

Perhaps he meant the two of them, but she took the meaning as the galaxy as a whole.

"Probably as long as the Empire stands," Johari replied, and suddenly she was unable to stop the bitter taint that crept into her next words. "The Wars were devastating...I don't think we'll ever recover from them, do you?"

He did not answer, only appeared to study her in his fashion. Jo sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest, frowning as she spoke again. "Atreus, it was all such a waste. All of your fellow Jedi, all of the Rangers, all of Tully's brothers...dead, and for what? Nothing." She felt her eyes burning again and blinked rapidly. "Nothing good came out of those years, did it?"

"Nothing?"

The word was hesitant, but it was accompanied by the lightest brush of his fingertips against her jaw, as if he was guiding her gaze to him; for a moment she was struck by the way that the emerald of his blindfold contrasted with his skin, and how his dark hair fell across his forehead. Why, of all times, did she feel this way? Grief and desire warred within her; after a few seconds she opened her mouth to speak. "Except your...friendship."

Again, the almost-smile, and he shook his head. "You're not my friend, Johari. Not anymore."

Her heart was racing, furiously slamming itself against her ribcage, and there was reckless, overwhelming attraction muddling its way through her brain. "Then what are we to one another?"

Dim light from overhead caught in his hair as his head shook again, but his words were filled with conviction. "I love you, Johari. I think I have from the first moment that we met."

Conviction, yes, but there was also a question laced within the statement. Oddly enough, her anxiety from before was fading, and the trembling had left her hands. A light ripple of laughter escaped her when she realized her reply. "I love you, too. Perhaps about as long."

Of course, he smiled. "Enough stalling, then?"

"Enough stalling." Despite everything else, she was smiling, too.

And then he kissed her.

Johari blinked, as if emerging from a dream.

"Jo? Come in Jo..." Beside her, Tully gave a quiet chuckle. "I will throw something at you. My aim might not be what it once was, but I'll bet I can at least get your attention."

Rather than reply, Jo shifted in her seat and shot him a glare that she knew he wouldn't see. After he heard her move, the former ARC laughed outright and leaned back in the nav chair, splaying his legs out before him as best he could given the cramped space. "You sent the lad to his bunk...maybe you should do the same if you've started dozing off. The Dance's autopilot is pretty reliable, you know."

Beneath his teasing tone there was genuine concern, and she felt a small smile tug its way on her face. "I'm okay, Tully. One hundred percent."

He chuckled at her use of his lingo, the lingo he'd taught her and Mira both, then his face grew somber once more and he glanced at the viewport as if he could see the shredding stars. "You were thinking about him, weren't you?"

"You know me too well."

Again, his quiet chuckle filled the space between them, though there was a note of sorrow in it this time. "Yeah. I do, don't I?"

Jo was silent for a few minutes before she spoke again. "I was also thinking about Humbarine."

At this, Tully blew out a breath and leaned back in the chair with another kind of heaviness. "Ah. That was an eventful little trip, and that's saying something." A beat of silence passed before he looked her way again. "So, you remember?"

"I do."

"How much?"

Again, she was quiet before she spoke. "Everything."

At this, Tully took a deep breath and knitted his brows together above the strip of cloth he wore, the tattered scarf that had been one of Miriam's favorites. "I kind of envied you, you know. There are some things I wish I could forget." His voice dropped in pitch and his face lowered, as if he were studying his hands, folded in his lap.

Johari felt her own grasp tighten on the helm at his words. "I remember now, Tully," she whispered. "Atreus loved me. And I-" Her voice broke and she blinked back the burning sensation that had begun behind her eyes. "And I loved him."

"Of course you did," Tully replied. "And of course he loved you. I know that I was...preoccupied a lot, but it was plain to see, if you were looking for it." He took another breath and rubbed at his forehead. Perhaps sensing her surprise in, he gave her a small, sad smile. "Like I said, I envied you. It hurts too much for me to remember. It's the worst kind of pain, knowing that you can never go back, that things can never be as they were. Knowing that you'll never be happy again."

His voice darkened further, still. "I'll never forget her last sound, as long as I live. I'll never forget that her last word was my name, shouted in fear and pain as that...that..." His hands tightened on the armrests and Johari watched the fabric start to give way beneath his strength, so she reached her own hand out and covered his left, the one that was closest to her.

Tully released a breath, and his hands loosened their grip as he continued. "We should just dump the kriffing Zeltron on Iego and be done with it. Leave her to the Maelibi and go about our lives."

Johari was silent, thinking. After another moment, Tully spoke again. "Which reminds me...what do you want to do once this is over?"

Although he was quite possibly the most skilled warrior she'd ever encountered – outside of her homeworld of Eshan, of course – in that moment Tully seemed so young, and irrevocably lost. She couldn't see his eyes, but his almost plaintive tone, the carriage of his body and agitation of his right knee as it bounced in place, they were all indicative of his turmoil. Johari took another breath, imagining herself centering her own mind into a graceful, powerful position of kohia, of her core. Of the strength of her being.

Of her heart.

More than anything, she had wanted it to be Atreus' voice, on the recording, and a part of her despaired because it hadn't been. Briefly, Jo wondered what would she give to hear him say her name again, but of course she knew the answer.

Anything.

"I have to know," she whispered. "Tully...I have to know for certain. If he's alive – somehow – if he's out there..." She took a shuddering breath, her core of strength dissipating. "I have to find him."

Tully nodded, though the agitation in his demeanor did not change. Finally he glanced her way again. "You know that's probably not going to end well, vod'ika."

Johari was silent.

Since Iego did not orbit a star, the interstellar gases that kept the planet at a livable temperature also kept it in a state of perpetual twilight, which – to Zara – felt a bit like the place was frozen in time.

The feeling was compounded upon seeing the vast array of starships that had crash landed on the surface. When the Spiral Dance descended through the atmosphere of Iego, for one moment all that Zara could see were the broken remnants of vessels that gave the area known as the Scatter its name. Rendered chunks of durasteel littered the ground, old bulkheads and nacelles that had been transformed into a patchwork of housing for the various sentients that considered Iego their home.

"What happened to them all?" she breathed as the Dance slipped over the veritable graveyard. Presently, everyone – even Corliss – was in the cockpit, watching the descent.

Johari gave a slow shake of her head. "The Diathim – the Angels that the old spacers speak of – they lure unwary travelers in with their songs and their beauty, and cause them to crash-land on the surface. Those that survived the landing have formed small tribes, but the Rangers never interacted with them, much."

At that moment, the Dance passed over a particularly gruesome, twisted piece of wreckage, and the Echani fell silent.

Broken ships were everywhere. Zara had to resist the urge to twist her head back and forth just to take in the mass of destruction that was laid bare below them. She spotted what looked like a cockpit of an old-style troop carrier, one not used for at least a thousand years; several minutes passed before her eyes fell on what she supposed was the rest of the thing, and she figured that the area wasn't called 'The Scatter' for nothing.

Something about the sight tugged at the edges of her mind; the feeling of being disheveled and pulled apart was one that she could relate to at the moment, and she was suddenly hyper-aware of Drake before her at the helm, in the place that everyone was coming to think of as 'his,' and Corliss at her side, both of them watching the planet's surface intently.

Drake flicked a switch at the helm, then glanced at Johari. "Going off of the coordinates you gave, we should be at the Boneyard within a few minutes. I'd punch it, but there's too much weirdness associated with this planet...I'd rather just take things easy."

"The Boneyard," Tully repeated, his voice dark. "There's a cheery name."

Upon Zara's wrist, the tranquility bracelet that Drake had given her seemed heavier than it should have, and she realized that she wanted to say something to him, anything to hear his voice speaking a reply to , he had said. He loved her, and she knew that she loved him. But why did it hurt so much? Wasn't love supposed to make you happy? She twined her fingers over the braided leather; the beads woven within it were a deep blue that mirrored the springs on Mundali, the colors of home.

Home.

Drake.

In front of her, his face was on the area outside the viewport, and he was very still. Self-contained. She extended her awareness to him and felt her throat tighten at the wall that she found there. Her eyes closed and she willed herself to be calm, to push the thoughts of him away and focus on the task at hand, and her fingers fell away from her wrist and to her side. Beside her, Corliss shifted in place, and took a breath as if to steady herself; Zara reached out to her friend through the Force and was greeted with warmth, with fondness and a measure of shame that had not dissipated since she'd first felt it on Humbarine.

Corliss glanced at her and gave a very small smile, one that Zara found she was able to return.

Finally, they passed over the last remnants of the Scatter and the ground grew rocky and unpredictable for some time; mountainous valleys dipped into still lakes, sparse clusters of vegetation littered the ground, and a few wispy clouds slid past the viewport. The Extrictcarium Nebula that provided Iego's light and warmth cast the planet in a somewhat distorted, rosy hue that was almost pleasant, though Zara found that she was bothered by the world's lack of a sun.

As if of their own accord, her eyes unfocused and she found herself growing lost in a haze of idle thoughts, her mind wandering far afield of any logical trajectory. She felt muddled and strange; the rose-colored world lulled her brain into a sleepy, muted state. Perhaps the others felt similarly, for no one spoke for the duration of the journey, until Levy sucked in his breath.

At the soft noise, she felt everyone's attention land on the direction that the young clone was pointing. Straight ahead of them was what Zara assumed was the Boneyard.

"Holy kriffing hell," Drake murmured as Levy let out a low whistle. "Look at the size of those bones..."

Tully, who'd been leaning against the bulkhead across from Zara, made an amused sound."I'd say something inappropriate, but it'd be too easy." His voice was wry, but Zara could detect a note of something beside amusement in his words, something that she likened to anger.

But she had little time or inclination to dwell on the feelings of the former ARC, for her eyes had fallen on the Boneyard; subsequently, her jaw dropped open. Like the pieces of broken ships that they'd passed by only minutes ago, the area – a wide plateau surrounded by rust-colored mountains – was littered with debris. The place was aptly named, but no skeleton that Zara had ever seen compared to the immense size of the bones that jutted out of the rocky ground, some of them tall enough to rival even the mountains themselves.

Pieces that may have once been part of a rib cage curved upward, creating a messy arch that acted as a gateway into the area, through which there was plenty of room for Drake to pilot their craft. Huge chunks of vertebrae – or perhaps they were only broken sections of larger bones – were scattered across the ground, bigger than the Spiral Dance, and smoothed over by the elements. Beyond the bones was a section of low mountain that was peppered with massive holes, and it was here that Johari indicated was their destination.

"That's where we hid it," she said as Drake began to go through the landing sequence. "That's where we need to go." The young clone set the ship down on a smooth patch of land while everyone else gathered in the engine compartment.

Tully lifted his weapon, a modified blaster cannon of some kind, hefting it over his shoulder as he spoke. "Just as we discussed on the way out here: Jo and Zara will retrieve the Holocron while the rest of us provide adequate cover. Remember, by all accounts, blaster-fire doesn't do much good on the creatures, so we have to use other means. I've got enough flash-bombs to discombobulate the kriff out of them – beings that live underground rarely like light, particularly when they've never seen a sun. Drake, Levy...you have the sonic emitters?"

"Enough to deafen the things if they try to pull anything funny," Drake replied, lifting the squat, rounded device. "If they use singing or whatever to lure their pray, their hearing must be pretty fine-tuned...we'll be able to give haran right back to them."

Corliss straightened and put her hands on the saber hilts at her side. "Am I to remain with the clones, or would you like me to accompany you, Zara?"

"You're staying with us, osi'ka," Tully replied. Even though the former ARC couldn't see, he must have figured that Corliss was frowning, for he gave a shrug as he added: "Don't like it? Tough osik. You have the Padawan to thank for the fact that you're not wearing cuffs."

Johari cleared her throat. "You all have the earplugs? If we run into trouble, Zara will 'call' Levy through the Force. Even though you're remaining in the rear, you should be able to reach our position within a few moments to offer assistance."

Levy nodded and Tully took another breath; he punched the panel that would lower the hatch, turning his face to Jo as the ramp lowered. "Keep your eyes open and your wits about you, vod'ika," he said to the pale-skinned woman. "And come back safely." To Zara he gave a nod, which she supposed was better than nothing. As she stepped down the ramp behind Jo, Drake caught her eye and gave her a very small smile, which she took as a good sign.

They'd landed the ship about seventy-five meters from the pockmarked section of rocks; to reach their destination, Zara and Jo had to pass beneath a massive, curved slice of bone, smooth with age. Neither one spoke until they were only a few meters away from the largest chasm, which was taller than Zara and about three meters wide. "Atreus resisted the call for a time using the meditation skills he learned from the Jedi," Johari whispered as they passed beneath the shadow cast by the rock-wall. "You can do the same, I know it."

Even though Zara had heard the words as they'd been planning their assault, it was comforting to hear them again, so she nodded as she tried to push back the knot of agitation she felt in her gut when Jo stepped forward. Light from the sky barely penetrated the interior of the chamber, illuminating perhaps the first few meters or so; the sides that led into the cavern mimicked the exterior, and were riddled with countless small apertures. It was silent, but a faint breeze blew from behind them, carrying the scent of the clones' nervousness as they waited. Swallowing, she watched as Johari stepped forward, towards the left side of the chamber, her eyes on the darkness within.

"Do you sense anything?"

The words shouldn't have been unexpected, but they startled Zara anyway even as the Echani began to poke around in the rock-face. She blinked once before reaching out with the Force, attempting to discern any unrecognizable presence. Nothing.

As she was about to speak, she heard it.

During their trip to Iego, everyone had listened to the Maelibus recording several times to acclimate themselves to the noise, but to Zara this moment was as if she'd heard it for the very first time in her life. The sound filled every one of her cells, echoed within the confines of her skin and called to her in such a way that nothing else had in her entire existence. For a moment she was frozen in place, facing the cavern, facing the darkness. She was dimly aware of someone saying her name, but the syllables sounded unfamiliar, as if she were listening to a strange language.

A flash of gold, tinted with the muted light, caught the corner of her eye. Somehow Zara was able to take a step towards it, though her body felt hollow and heavy all at once. The music, the pure essence of sound, was emanating from the gold, and she moved to meet it.

The Maelibus was taller than she'd imagined; sinewy muscles rippling beneath scales of molten gold, and its body was lithe and lean, though powerful. It emerged from the darkness as the sun – had there been one here – would have cast its light upon the mountainside, slow and shifting. Talons dug into the dirt before it to grip the ground, as though otherwise any moment it would drift away, lifted up by its own song. A series of large, curving horns rose up around either side of its face, which was – unexpectedly – Humanoid in shape. It moved to her on all fours, then on two legs, continuing to dig the massive claws into the sides of the cavern as it progressed forward, seeming to pull itself along through the open air outside of the cavern.

Zara forgot everything as she stared at the rippling creature before her. Some small, frantic part of her brain urged her to run, to jump away, to do anything but stand there; somewhere, Johari was calling to her, urging her to break out of whatever spell she was in. But it didn't matter as the Maelibus came to stand before her and regarded the Nautolan with eyes the color of a star.

The song of the Maelibus changed, then. It shifted into what she imagined was the purest form of speech, long before anyone cobbled together clumsy, raw phrases out of syllables. Zara felt the creature speak, felt the language of the Maelibus within her mind, as clearly as if it had spoken to her aloud.

You have the Ancient Power, little one, it said, dropping to all fours and approaching her with swaying shoulders. But you are not what you claim to be.

"I will be, one day," she whispered.

The Maelibus made a trilling sound that she likened to laughter as it began to circle her, tilting its head from side to side, its expression a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Perhaps. I have seen your kind before. But there are so few of you now, aren't there?

While it spoke, Zara felt the Force rippling around her, and she was suddenly reminded of the night of Order 66, of the terror, pain and loss she'd felt in the vast energy field as Jedi across the galaxy were slaughtered. It was overwhelming. She felt her knees buckle and then her hands were in the dirt. Lights flashed all around, as if stars were exploding beside her, and she was dimly aware of a new, harsher sound, loud, though it was hardly a whisper when compared to the music-language of the Maelibus as it spoke inside her head. Someone was shouting to her, but the Maelibus was still circling, creating a tight spiral around her body, surrounding her with molten gold.

You have a touch of destiny about you, child of the Force.

Zara heard her name again, but it was such a little sound, so distant. Faint, like a final breath. She shook her head as if to clear it, and the Maelibus spoke again. What you seek...you will only find it without. You will never find it within yourself. Inside of you...there is only weakness.

"What can I do?" Her hands dug in the dirt, and her lekku trembled with the echoing music. Something wet was on her face.

The sound like laughter echoed in her mind again. Whatever it takes.

"No!"

And then – somehow – there was a hand on her shoulder, pulling her to her feet. A part of her brain noted that Drake had barreled his way past the creature to her side even as he'd shouted; the Maelibus keened and lunged for the young clone, but he had the saber-pike that they had taken from the Shadow Guard. The tip ignited, blazing an angry red, and he thrust it with all his might into the chest of the creature. The keening wail turned into a shriek, but before Zara could see if he'd even wounded the thing – and already her head felt clearer, though it was starting to throb – Drake grabbed her arm and urged her away from the cave.

They began to run; Jo falling in step with them as the others began to fire more flash-bombs towards the Maelibus, which was retreating, still. It was not until they passed beneath the bone arch that Zara realized that she couldn't stand anymore for some reason, and her knees buckled again.

This time, however, Drake was ready for her, catching her in his arms and clutching her to his chest, not allowing her to fall. Her ears felt thick with the shrieking of the Maelibus, so much so that she almost missed Jo's assurances that she'd be alright, but that they shouldn't dawdle. Her body felt like it was made of stone, her head was aching, and she wasn't sure if she could speak, or if even walk upright.

She tried all these things, and failed. But Drake slid under her shoulder, with Jo following his lead, and they began to hurry towards the others. As they went, he leaned close to her, and when he spoke his voice was a whisper in her ear. "Time to go, Zar."

Thanks for reading! One more chapter after this...time flies, huh?