Chapter Twenty-Eight

Bao knew that Riko had continued on without him. Bao was sure that the child had probably already found the droid by now. The Trandoshan would just have to make sure they found him.

He had no doubt that the boy wouldn't leave him behind. Not willingly, at least.

But Bao was sure that even if he couldn't help Riko, he could still do other useful things.

He would try to capture Tau. He knew that he was onboard.

If he did, then the truth would be revealed to everyone, Tau would be exposed, and this whole conspiracy would unravel.

Things weren't looking too bad. He had fended off a few patrols, all mercs.

He was incredibly close. His hunt had continued to the point that he could sense fear emanating from his former master. He was panicking, desperate…

Bao stopped moving. He knew that he couldn't hide himself from Tau even if he wasn't his former Padawan. Instead, he took up position in the corridor.

Tau then rushed down the corridor, before stopping. He truly was terrified.

"Bao!" Tau yelled just as Bao attacked him. Tau ignited his lightsaber, only for Bao to grab it and push him to the wall. Tau groaned before pushing Bao back with the Force, only for Bao to scissor-kick Tau in the ankle and push him to the ground, using the Force to pin him there.

Leaping upon Tau before he could break free, Bao held his former master on the floor, one hand on Tau's forehead, the other brandishing Tau's deactivated lightsaber, which was held to his throat. Bao was prepared for any attack Tau would make, he would leap off the moment Tau tried something.
"Listen…" Tau gasped.
"I will hear your words in a court of law, Master," Bao hissed. Tau would stand trial.

"NO!" Tau writhed in Bao's grip, not using any of his gifts, "I need your help!"
Bao almost didn't listen. But then he remembered his training, and decided to hear Tau out.

"J-jade…" Tau choked out.

A part of Bao wanted to kill Tau where he stood. He had caused so much pain, not just for the Jedi, but for millions, maybe even billions.

"Asharr…got to her…Please, we have to help her...PLEASE!"
Tau had never looked more desperate, or terrified. He really meant it, Bao knew he wasn't lying. It wasn't the Force that told him.
Bao was still incredibly angry. He knew he couldn't listen to that part of himself. He had to put the predator away, right now. Jade needed his help, and if there was one thing Tau cared about more than anything else, it was his daughter.

Bao let go of Tau's head, and slowly moved off of Tau's body.

Tau, looking shaken, but otherwise unharmed, began to move off the floor.

"Thank you for listening," Tau said, before taking Bao's hand. Bao hadn't even realized he had extended it.

"Will you let Jade leave with me if I stay silent about all this?" Bao asked.

"If she wishes," Tau responded. Bao didn't believe he would honor that agreement. But then again, maybe he was more flexible to change, now that he knew what it could cost him. Maybe there was still a chance to make amends.

"Come on," Tau said frantically, "Asharr's quarters are this way, we must hurry."

Master and Apprentice rushed together to fight the Dark Side, one last time.

When they finally arrived, both activated their lightsabers, both prepared to fight.

"Her quarters are always locked," Tau said as he began to cut his way in.

Bao wasn't sure. He moved to the control panel and, just to be sure, pressed it. The door moved open, Tau's blade leaving a bright orange line in the metal as the door moved through it.

Tau briefly glanced at Bao. Neither had the time nor the need to say anything.

The lights in Asharr's quarters were deactivated, the only illumination, to Tau's eyes, if not Bao's, provided by the flashes of lightning from Dromund Kaas' stormy atmosphere.

Asharr was standing in the middle of the room, its mask firmly secured on her face, her robes billowing with the slightest of movements, resembling a ghost.

Tau advanced in, "Asharr!" he yelled, "I know you did it! Where's my daughter?"
"She's safe, Tau," Asharr said.

"What are you doing?" Bao asked.

"Everything is in place, Tau," Asharr said, drawing its own lightsaber, "I am ready to rule the galaxy."

The door suddenly slammed shut, leaving them all in near-total darkness, the only light generated by their sabers.
"You're not ruling anything anymore, Asharr," Bao responded, adopting a defensive pose.

"You're a Jedi!" Tau said in disbelief.

As his master spoke, Bao closed his inner eyelids, attuning his vision to infrared. There was another. He saw the heat of her body, even as she cloaked herself in the Force. As she let the mask drop, her presence felt dark, unnatural, a storm…

Bao realized what had happened to his Padawan.
"No," Asharr corrected him, "I'm more than that."

The unique markings adorning Asharr's mask, the way her robes moved with even the slightest of movement, illuminated by her red blade, gave her a terrifying image; a demon crafted of shadow and obsidian. Her helmet's eyes flashed a bright scarlet as she spoke.

Tau's quarters

Once Niner had stopped ranting about his apparent hero worship of the astromech, Artoo had provided a brief explanation. Some years ago, at least a decade, apparently, he had accessed a unique coding frequency that had allowed him to access the frequency by which Asharr communicated with Tau. Wishing to preserve the information, he had encrypted it within his memory banks. As Tau was unable to crack the sequestered code and wipe his droid's memory, nor reprogram him to serve his interests, he had deactivated the droid to preserve the secret. Artoo couldn't share how or why he was here, and Riko felt that it was irrelevant at the moment.

"Okay," Riko said once Artoo had finished his explanation, "We have a datatape I need you to crack. It'll pull the rug out from this conspiracy."
Riko took the tape and plugged it into a socket on the droid. Surprisingly, the tape was compatible with the astromech, and the droid beeped with satisfaction moment later.

"He can access the files!" Niner excitedly translated. Artoo beeped again, and Niner stopped rolling in excitement, "He can't copy the files, not here."

"Alright," Riko removed the tape, "We'll figure this all out on the Nomad."
The droid beeped again.

"Our boat. You'll love it there…" Niner started to say until the droid beeped again.

"He wants to trust us, but he feels that we aren't giving him a choice," Niner explained.
"We won't force you," Riko replied, "But we really need you. Tau's taken over the Jedi Order, he's killed the high council, we're trying to expose him."
"Dee dee breet?"

"He wonders where the Nomad is."
"We're not leaving yet," Riko responded, "We still have one more person to find, and we need you there, too. We need you to guide us through the station. I had a vision where you would lead me to Jade."
"Be beep?"

"He's asking if you mean Jade Skywalker, Tau's daughter," Niner translated.

"Yes. She's my best friend, she's Tau's prisoner, we're trying to get her out," Riko responded.

"Wou."

"What's wrong?"
"Wou weow. Wo wouw wou dou dee deep."
"He can't believe how long he has been offline," Niner translated.
"De de deo!"

"He can find the hub's floor plan on a computer, but needs you to tell him where to lead you to," Niner said.

"Okay, give me a moment," Riko closed his eyes and tried to focus. Riko told himself that he would never save Jade until he did this. That burst of determination turned out to be enough; he saw a long platform leading directly to the station's heart.

And there, he saw Jade.

"The spire!" Riko realized, "I'm looking for the base of the spire, the power core. I need you to lead me there."
"De dee?"

"Luke Skywalker was your owner," Niner replied, "I is surprised you is not familiar with these Force things."

"Bee de deet?"

"I like talking like this way. Not a problem," Niner replied.

Riko didn't need Niner to translate what the astromech just said.

"Scan for a girl, fourteen, brown-haired with a blonde streak," Riko ordered. He wanted to verify that they were going in the right direction.

Artoo moved towards the access terminal, attempting to extend what Riko presumed was his scomp link into the dataport.

"Bree-deo!" Artoo beeped in frustration when the probe didn't connect.

"Let me see," Riko examined the droid's scomp link.

"That's a ninety-nine scomp link. I might have an adapter somewhere..." Riko rummaged through his backpack, his hand searching the bottom of the bag.

"I got it!" Riko retrieved an adapter and attached it to Artoo's probe, "Try it now."

Artoo returned to the terminal.

"Dee-bee-beet!" Artoo responded.

"Jade's in that area," Niner translated, "She ran out of her room!"

"Great! Come on, let's go," Riko grabbed his lightsaber and opened the door. Clearly Jade had been tortured, that was it. She had escaped, they would find her, it would be alright.

Asharr's quarters

Tau turned all of his attention to Asharr. She would die for what she had done. It was no less than what she deserved.

Asharr was trying to kill Tau and had violated his daughter to do so. She would die at Tau's hand.

Asharr struck at Tau's head, Tau parried it with a well-practiced sequence of bladework. Asharr struck again, and again. Tau knew that Asharr favored the Juyo style of lightsaber combat, and that she supplemented it with Soresu and Djem So.

Tau knew the strengths and weaknesses of these styles, and he would exploit them.

The two pushed against each other, attempting to move their blades back, and catching themselves in a blade lock.

"Why?" Tau asked.

"You know why, Tau," she whispered.

And as Asharr broke free and came close to striking him across the waist, Tau understood.

Asharr attempted to bisect Tau across the waist. Tau parried it and moved the theatrician's blade back towards her arm.

Asharr's strength kept the older man's blade at bay, but barely.

"You're not going to get away with this, Asharr," Tau gazed into the warlady's mask.

"On the contrary," Asharr smiled, "You are on my ship, the guards will answer to me."
"Then we will leave it." Tau spent a moment gathering all of the Force energy, light and dark, that he could muster. Then he released it in one large explosion that ruptured the room, bending the metal like clay, and blowing everyone out. Falling several feet, Tau overcame the mild disorientation that followed and landed on a nearby platform, shielding himself to minimize the impact and landing on his feet. He used the Force to ensure Jade would land nearby.
Ignoring the rain, he quickly glanced, confirming that Bao had landed, he could not see Asharr, nor Jade.

"Riko will find her!" Bao yelled, "We should take Asharr!"
Tau wasn't sure whether to agree or disagree with Bao. Then he decided, "Let's hope Riko can break through to her. Split up and search the drydock!"
Tau decided to stay close to the spire, intending to break off his search for Asharr the second he found Jade.

Power Core module, exterior

Artoo trilled as he unlocked access hatch 03, removing his scomp link once the doors opened. The droid had gotten them past every safeguard the Imperials had in place, allowing them to escape the cruiser and move through the depot with ease.

Riko was overwhelmed by the size of this section. It had to be at least a kilometer across. The power core was housed in a massive pole at the center of the structure, encased in transparisteel. Surrounding it were dozens of platforms, junctions, and stations. Riko had a feeling that the core was shielded to prevent it from being hit by blasterfire or some other projectile and be destroyed as a result.

"Thanks Artoo," Riko said as he looked around. With a jolt, he realized that this was the place in his vision where he killed Jade.

Panic filled his mind, he tried calming it by reminding himself that there was no reason for Jade to attack him. That mental argument quickly fell apart when Riko remembered Harkaq.

"Wo weeoo! Weeooo!"

"He says 'you're welcome,'" Niner translated. Riko's fear grew as they talked. He wondered if Jade had concealed what had truly happened to her from him, or he had simply been unable or unwilling to understand it.

"Niner, Artoo," Riko said, "I think you should wait here. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Why don't you want us to come?" Niner asked.

"There's something bad in there," Riko admitted, "I should go on alone, just to be safe."

"If it's dangerous, you'll need us…" Niner responded.

"It's that kind of danger, Niner," Riko responded.

"What do you mean...oh," Niner realized. Artoo trilled, genuinely concerned.

"Just wait here until I contact you. If I'm not back in two hours, get out of here."

"Vreet dree de de, deet."

"He wants to come with us. He likes you. You're very like one of his older friends."

"You've been a wonderful guide, Artoo. I think you'll fit right in with the rest of us," Riko said.

"Trill be weo." The droid wished him good luck. Riko wished he could share the droid's optimism. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Okay," Riko responded, telling himself he had to go now. Even though an impulse in his mind told him that he had more things to do before he left, he moved forward. He couldn't wait any longer.

Turning his back on the two, Riko set out to find Jade.

Depot module, exterior

The prey was close, Bao could feel it. Asharr was stalking him, preparing to strike.

It wasn't too difficult to hide here. This part of the drydock vaguely reminded Bao of a maze, with high walls that branched off. Bao assumed that this section was used for transporting cargo, probably via repulsor craft.

In the atmosphere of Dromund Kaas, it was dark. Bao was somewhat intimidated, closing his eyes to see red currents of energy tunnel through the cold planet. He was somewhat comforted by the intense heat he could see in the blade of his lightsaber.

He sensed movement. He quickly turned, only to see nothing.

Bao stopped walking. He stood still and prepared to face Asharr.

Predictably, it attacked from behind, Bao blocked its first strike. Its mask was fully illuminated by its red blade, intimidating even to Bao.

Bao wouldn't stop until it was caught and brought to justice.

Power Core module, interior

Surprisingly, this particular area was dark, the area around Riko illuminated largely by his fiery blade. He held it close to his body, clutching it with both hands, advancing cautiously along one central walkway, advancing less and less with each step.

Riko was trembling, hyperventilating even.

There is no emotion, there is peace, he reminded himself, unable to quell the sheer terror inside of him.

He heard movement, the sound of feet on a walkway. He quickly turned towards it, afraid of what he would find.

He could see the faint outline of a person approaching him. Riko held his blade up, peering outward.

Jade? Riko asked, sensing the artificial presence he had felt in Asharr's Dark Jedi.

"Jade?" He asked again, in horror at what she had become.

"Jade Skywalker is gone," Jade's voice replied, "I serve Asharr."

"That's not you, Jade," Riko said, "You're a Jedi. Jade, I know you're still in there."

Jade, or the agent, drew out her lightsabers, assuming an aggressive pose and igniting two blades, one green and the other cyan, the light bringing her surprisingly unchanged features into sharp relief.
No, No! Riko screamed to himself mentally. Everything was going wrong. The worst-case scenario had occurred. Jade's death was becoming more and more likely.

"Riko," not-Jade started, "I get it now. I know what I have to do. I want you with me."
"Jade," Riko replied desperately, "You're still there. Please, try to fight it..."
"You have so much potential. Let me unlock it."

This isn't you! This…" He didn't finish. The agent leaped forward.

Riko quickly raised his blade, quickly switching between guard positions to hold back the aggressive strikes of her two blades. Riko used a rightside chop, aiming for the hilt of Jade's left saber. The agent countered, angling her arm away.

She went back on the attack, continually slashing at his body, with Riko being forced to retreat, all the while attempting to find a weakness in her technique.

It was difficult, keeping track of both of her blades. The advantages of dual-blade wielding was that it doubled the number of possibilities one had in combat. Jade had always taken advantage of this in the student sparring sessions back at the Temple, and the agent's skills appeared to be even greater.

Riko was firmly adhering to the Middle and inner rings to block the agent's attacks. With her enhanced skills, the agent kept Riko on the defensive, leaving him unable to attempt offensive strikes. Riko was forced to retreat, blocking, parrying, and redirecting her blades.

Right, left-up, right-down… He was given no time to anticipate, he could only react. His mind was continually trying to keep track of all of the moves she might attempt, and he was trying to figure out a way to win the duel without avoiding killing her, all the while trying to suppress his horror.

She attempted to strike him again, this time with force, enough to push Riko to the floor. Riko quickly rolled back, retreating another few meters.

He quickly stood up and reignited his weapon, only to realize that the agent wasn't moving towards him.

Before he had time to take advantage of this, she unleashed a bolt of lightning from her fingers.

Blade high! Riko felt a brief shock of agony before his saber blade up, stumbling and almost falling back, wheezing.

She fired again, and again.

Blade high! Riko kept blocking, but he kept retreating, and retreating, and…

He yelped in pain as the last bolt hit him in the chest, shocking him, causing him to double over.

"You can't win, why not surrender?" The agent asked, mocking Riko, "You are weak, just as Jade was weak."

Riko's anger built. He tried to suppress it.

"You can't defeat me, you can't be a hero."

There is no emotion, there is peace.

"You were always the failure, Riko."
There is no passion, there is serenity.

"Tau will break you!" The cyan blade slipped past Riko's and grazed his bicep. It was worse than any cut Riko had ever experienced, it was plasma contained within a barrier, and the full heat of that barrier vaporized a layer of flesh, causing pain that Riko had never felt, not even from a training saber. Riko cried out, falling to the floor.

The agent did nothing as Riko grabbed his lightsaber, as he tried to move himself back to his feet. Even as the pain faded from a white-hot inferno to a throb, he could barely move to his knees.

She resumed speaking,

"You will be caught up in his schemes, his deception. He will turn you against those you love."
There is no emotion…

"You will hunt Kali'sto and Bao. And he will make you kill them. Are you sure you want that?"

Riko yelled and lashed at the agent aggressively, any reservations about attacking his friend pushed aside. No one would hurt Kali'sto, hurt Jade, hurt Bao, hurt his loved ones any more than they already had. Asharr and Tau had torn families apart, they sacrificed innocent lives. Riko knew that as long as he lived, he would fight to eradicate these plagues on society.

The agent was barely able to counter his blows; Riko had turned the tables on her. His frenzy culminated with his almost knocking her left blade out of her hand and leaving a flesh wound across her belly. The agent leapt to evade the attack and fired again with lightning as Riko's now vulnerable chest, the bolts hit their mark.

Screaming as white-hot fire wracked through his body, Riko fell back to the ground.

"Good!" the agent said, Riko sensing not only a hint of fear from the agent, but...satisfaction?

"But, you need to focus it, make it serve you," she goaded as she produced the datatape in her free hand.

Before Riko could get back up, it burst into fragments. Riko's hopes for preventing the end of his world as he knew it faded as shrapnel fell to the deck.

With dawning horror, Riko realized what had happened. He had given into his darker emotions. He had let his fear distract him from the big picture. He had blindly attacked his best friend. And now any chance of stopping Asharr was gone. Without any evidence, she and Tau would dominate everything. The best Riko could hope for was to survive in hiding…if only he could escape…

If only his best friend wasn't in the way.

The agent had destroyed the chance to right all this. Riko knew that if Jade knew what was happening, she was begging for…

No.

Subconsciously, Riko heard another voice. It was his own as well.

She'll go on to hurt more people, Jade's trapped, she's…

It hit Riko right there. He was giving into despair, losing hope. Now, he would do almost anything to survive.

This was how he'd killed her in his vision. He would grow so desperate he would be willing to do anything…and destroy his soul in the process. If Riko let the ends justify the means, if he sacrificed Jade to save her from the agent once she had regained control, and himself, he would become Tau Skywalker. He would sacrifice his best friend, a member of his family…Riko had never really used that word to describe Jade or his feelings towards her until now…

This was the path that the Jedi had always associated with the Dark Side.

Groaning, Riko slowly began to stand up. He felt adrenaline reinvigorate his weary muscles, allowing him to set aside his aches and pains. As he did so, he quickly reevaluated his situation.

Jade had always been the better duelist, incredibly skilled with two blades…

Second blade, Riko thought, I got it! The weakness to her technique could be found in her overconfidence.

Riko doubled over and fell to his knees; intentionally. He had to surprise her. Closing his eyes, he focused, even as he continued to act as if he was struggling to rise.

The agent was overconfident, her guard lowered. Her Force-shield was down, but she might spring back up again if she realized what Riko was doing.

Riko was trying a new strategy. This time, he wouldn't attack her until he had the advantage. This time, he was subtle, a knife rather than a club, doing what the agent hopefully wouldn't expect.

At that moment, with that thought, he realized that he did possess a strength. His inability to use the Force had forged him to push harder, developing skills in other areas. He was an accomplished mechanic, a competent duelist, a critical thinker with a great knowledge of history. What he had lacked as a Force-user, he had made up with in areas that might be overlooked. Here, he wasn't being a blunt instrument. He wasn't a club, but a scalpel, as precise as the workings of his lightsaber, and had to potential to be as surprising as his saber's second blade. Surprise. Precision. Stealth.

Newly confident in his abilities, feeling a sense of pride and confidence that he hadn't felt in a long time, Riko let the perception of Jade's lightsaber fill his mind. He disconnected the focusing chamber and power cell from the emitter matrix. Opening his eyes, he saw Jade's blade spark and sputter, the illumination erratic. Finally, the blade shorted out, the lightsaber was useless, and the Agent was vulnerable.

The agent lunged before Riko could disable her other weapon, but Riko, feeling stronger than ever, was ready. He rolled past her and quickly moved to his feet, reigniting his blade.

Right-down, fire appeared to meet water as his blade caught hers and redirected it. He struck back, letting the Force flow into him, his feelings empowering him. She was able to hold him off, but barely.

She swung, Riko parried. He swung, she blocked. Jade's minimal practice with one blade carried over to the Agent's skillset; forced to work with a body that had a keen instinct with two blades, yet practically none with one. Riko's skill might not have been equal to that of Bao, or even the average Jedi knight, but against an opponent with that handicap, he excelled.

She was growing desperate, her strikes becoming less and less refined. It was almost scary to see the agent feel...fear.

Riko let that fuel his determination. He was breaking through, he was winning.
Finally, the agent swung from the inner ring, the lightsaber's pommel held near her navel, and Riko angled his saber to match. Their blades were locked, the pommel of Riko's lightsaber a few inches from slicing through the hilt of the agent's weapon. Quick flick of the wrist he would step back, angle his blade to his right so as to give the impression that he would strike at a different angle, ignite his second blade, and damage his old lightsaber right as his second blade activated, leaving Jade/the agent unarmed. It would occur in the span of a few seconds; if everything occurred exactly the right way, Riko could do it.

Riko moved back. But then everything fell apart; the agent moved her arm upward precisely a second before Riko pressed the switch.

As the second blade activated, it cleaved through Jade's wrist and severed it, the hand falling onto the platform. The agent screamed, dropping to her knees, clutching Jade's stump. The cyan glow faded, leaving only Riko's fiery blade as the only illumination. Standing there, shocked, Riko didn't budge.

"There's nothing," The agent eventually said, staring into Riko's eyes, "Finish me."
"No," Riko replied, his feelings in turmoil as he spoke, "I won't lose you again."

"You already have," The agent responded, "Anything is better than the pain."

Please, Riko. It didn't make sense, but somehow, the agent wasn't the one speaking to him. The pain must have weakened the Agent's control somehow. Jade was speaking to him.

No. Riko would find a way. He believed he would, he knew he could. He would save her.

Please…the solution came to him. Riko knew what to do.

Deactivating his lightsabers and sitting down in a meditative posture close to the agent, Riko closed his eyes.

Jade. Don't give up. I'm here…

He felt a weak tug, but everything felt murky. He couldn't see anything.

It vaguely reminded him of one of Kali'sto's lesser soup recipes. Just as he was remembering how much he missed Kali'sto, he was about to try to focus back on the task…

The first time he met Jade flashed before his eyes. Hurting from the fall. His awe in her experiences. The saddest moment in his life when he and Kali'sto departed. When she came to him, becoming his friend, reassuring him that he wasn't alone…

Riko knew what to do.

He let more memories flashed through his mind. The day he first tried to wield a training lightsaber and Jade corrected his grip and stopped him from burning his leg. The day Jade snuck an old dejarik table into Riko's room and he spent a week repairing it.

Every joke that made Jade laugh. Every story she told that he listened to. Riko realized he was smiling, widely, as he let his emotions fuel his work.

It wasn't enough. The murk was fading, but Riko still couldn't push it away. He needed a boost…

More memories flashed through his head. The awful sensation echoing from his friend's entrapment. The fear Riko had felt when Jade considered killing her mother's murderer. The rage when he could do nothing as she was kidnapped…

Riko felt rage and hope at the same time, anger and joy, fear and courage…

Balance, Riko realized, through the haze of the emotions. Oddly, he didn't feel like he was perched on a knife tip. He just felt...whole, alive, more alive than he had felt in a long time. His anger, his rage, to fuel his endeavor, his hope, his passion, his love, to refine it, to focus it. He felt the Force flow through him, empowering him, invigorating him.

Riko yelled as he opened up, letting all these emotions fuel his one goal: he would save the girl he loved. He felt…lighter than usual, as if a great weight had left him.

What Riko saw when he cleared the murk was abstract: two souls locked in combat, each attempting to drag each other down from the surface. One was in varying shades of grey, mostly brighter, though darker shades rippled. The other was ...it just felt hollow, there was nothing. They didn't feel disconnected, but there was a clear divide between each one.

Riko latched onto Jade, lent her his strength, everything he could do. Riko felt Jade's presence grow stronger inside the agent's mind. The agent fought, but Riko held onto Jade, and she onto him. Weakened, the second presence clawed and tore at Riko and Jade, but it was unable to stay, and the two of them worked together to separate it from Jade. She was free.

For one moment, Jade felt an overwhelming sense of freedom, relief.

That feeling faded as her physical sensations returned. Sight, smell, touch, all of her senses washed over her like a flood. Most prominent of them all was pain, an inferno that burned through her right arm, chest, and midriff. It numbed the rest of her extremities, she was unable to focus. Overwhelmed, she simply collapsed onto the platform, unable to do anything.

With great effort, Jade tried to call on the Force. She wanted to heal the source of the pain, stitch whatever had been torn apart back together.

The inferno began to die down, slowly subsiding from unbearable to excruciating.

As the pain grew less intense, Jade felt a set of hands on her shoulders, supporting her. Riko's voice slowly infiltrated her awareness.

"Jade, I'm here, I'm here…"

Jade was finally able to open her eyes. She saw Riko's face, worry ingrained in his eyes.

She and Riko were on their knees, cuddled up, the two of them were sitting on a platform in the dark. Jade looked down at her arm.

A searing cut, partially healed, but still glowing, encircled her wrist, clearly the mark of a lightsaber. Her right hand was completely numb, she couldn't feel anything except an intense throb in that limb. She must have healed the tissue unconsciously.

"Riko?" Jade croaked out. Riko moved his hands and wrapped his arms around her back, hugging her. Jade, despite being angry at him, reciprocated, relieved to feel something besides pain again.

"Hello Jade," Riko replied, his voice riddled with joy and relief, but Jade could sense his guilt, "Good to have you back."