Last time: Oppie seeked out Kyr for help.

Now: The trio is on their own.

Part 2- Chapter 3: On Our Own

In his time as a Padawan, Oppie had traveled throughout the galaxy - before the clone wars traveling with his master to put out hotspots and during the clone wars putting out even hotter spots, as Master Redika had put it. All the planets felt a little different, especially when viewed through the Force. This place felt… he kept coming back to the word rustic. It was an untamed planet filled with wildlife, almost completely untouched by the galactic civilization. He traveled through the night, his senses sharp and aided by the Force, plus it kept him warm as he moved up the slopes and the earlier flurry down in the outpost turned into a quiet snow. He sensed wildlife every so often, small chittering things, larger herbivores that quietly marked his passage and then went back to their browsing, and the intensity of the predators as they looked for their next meal in this harsh land. They did tend to avoid him, as they had learned through the years to stay away from the strange visitors to their planet, and Oppie also veered away from them if he sensed them too close.

The terrain was rugged, as the foothills turned into the lower slopes of great mountains that stretched far above the treeline. Not that he saw them that often, the dense conifers making a thick roof. Every now and then, he did have the serene pleasure of seeing the peaks that rose before him through clear patches, their snow capped tops glistening in the moonlight. Under other circumstances this would be a great vacation from the difficulties of life, but right now he was focused on trying to find this Kitsu, in the hope she might have some insight that could help Sasha.

After several hours dawn was approaching, and the woods were getting more and more stunted and patchy as he moved further up the slope. This afforded him beautiful views both up and down the slope, and in the distance he could see the faint sparkle of the settlement's lights down below. He stopped on a rock outcropping and rested, taking out a nutrient bar that he had gotten at the provisions store. Idly he tumbled the blue crystal in his free hand before realizing he had even removed it from his pouch. He stopped, and held it up for closer inspection. If this was what the Sith wanted, if this was the fragment, what could it possibly mean? He always thought it was maybe part of a holocron, but why would it be so important? He knew they were invaluable, but... They were just information stores.

The sun was higher up now, and he thought it was time to check in. He'd hoped that maybe Sasha and Viran could have had a quiet night so he had wanted to not disturb them until they would have been awake anyway. He thumbed on the switch and made the call down to the ship.

"Viran, Sasha, you there?" They had been able to acquire some higher end communicators over the years, ones that were nicely encrypted so they could feel safe speaking openly on them.

Viran had dozed off in the chair next to Sasha's bed, and heard Op's call. As he got up he chidded himself for falling asleep, and checked Sasha's vitals worriedly before moving to the next room with the communications gear. "Yeah, Op this is Viran, Sash isn't doing too well."

"What's going on, how is she?" Oppie asked, he'd been afraid that would be the news he'd hear this morning. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his free hand.

"A few hours after you left last night she collapsed again, I brought her inside. It's like she's sick, she has a low fever that's getting worse and the rest of her vitals aren't great either."

"I'm sorry Viran I'm about halfway up the mountain, I feel like I might find this Kitsu person today but that might not mean I'm back until the day after tomorrow." He didn't add that he would have to be incredibly lucky to find one hunter in this wilderness in a single day, even with the Force on his side.

"It's fine, I just.. I'm not sure what to do." Viran confided. He sounded more defeated than Oppie had ever heard him. He was always the one that kept everyone's spirits up with a joke and exuberant nature when times get tough.

"Vir," Oppie said, "She's going to be okay, she'll get through this. Just watch over her until I get back and we'll face this together."

"Yeah, just," Viran paused, "hurry Op."

"I will -" He was cut off by something that was between a howl and a hiss coming from a copse of trees to his left, and an answering call that came from up slope.

"What was that?" Viran asked quickly over the com channel.

"Uhh.. hold on Viran, I'll call you back." Oppie said, shutting off the communicator and drawing his blaster as he stood up in one smooth motion. He reached out with the Force and felt the presence of three very, very angry predators drawing down on him. The third was laying quiet in the trees in the opposite direction from the other two that had been trying to distract him with the howl.

He remembered back to his training, how one could use the Force to calm and soothe animals, he tried to reach out to the nearest to try the technique, and was greeted with yet another of the aggressive calls. They were sensitive to electromagnetic equipment, probably very sensitive, if they used it as a hunting sense, and something like an activated communicator had to sound like a dinner gong ringing across the land.

One of them stalked into view. As tall as his waist, a muscular cross between a feline and a jackal, and huge jaws that snarled with teeth below predatory eyes that concentrated on him. He froze and stared it down. He sensed the other two working through the brush, trying to use the visible one as a distraction, and they were nearly on his left and right.

Suddenly the one to his left came flying out of the underbrush at him in a powerful leap. He immediately turned and used the Force to deflect it and use its momentum to throw it at the distracting hunter. But the distractor was already moving, as was the one on his right, both coming for him as the attacker slammed to the ground. He leveled his blaster at the one on his right and snapped off a few shots at the path in front of it, while he brought his left hand up to block the other with a wall of Force. The blaster brought its target up short, not quite sure what to make of the loud bolts landing right at its feet, and the other slammed into the Force wall, though its momentum almost carried it through. The third was shaking off the throw and was facing him down again, all three backing off, wary of their prey and releasing snarling hisses as they started to circle.

He snapped a few more shots off into the air and they cowered away, hissing louder, then one that had circled behind him attacked, leaping again. This time he used the beast's momentum to pull, then push it up over the top of him, throwing it into the path of the one on the far side. The third one merely looked at him and emitted a low growl while the other two recovered, snarling at each other with a series of vicious nips.

All three had had enough for now though and they started slinking away, anger fell off of them in waves, and Oppie felt like he hadn't seen the last of them. He didn't dare pull out his communicator yet.

Viran tried Oppie again after he had hung up on him suddenly. However, there was still no response. He vaguely remembered Oppie saying the day before that communication from the woods was dangerous, but Oppie still called them anyway. After a couple more moments of trying, Viran groaned in defeat and slammed his fist on the console. I guess I'll just have to wait for him to call me back, he thought as he sunk into his pilot's chair.

He didn't sit there long. Viran took a moment to gather himself before going back to check on Sasha. What he had told Oppie was true, she was getting worse. After she collapsed yesterday, Viran remained by her side. He kept a very close eye on her, hoping she would awaken like she did the previous times. But she didn't. Not once through the night or early morning did Sasha wake up. She was stuck in this comatose state and that worried him.

When he got back, Viran resumed his seat next to her and checked her vitals once again. She was still running a fever that felt like it was only getting higher in temperature with each passing hour or two. Her usually tan skin was so pale and slicked with sweat. Her breathing was steady and slow like it should be when one is asleep. But she still hadn't moved an inch. Viran frowned as he grabbed the cloth from her head and got it soaked in cold water from the compartment sink. As he sat next to her, he dabbed the cloth against her warm forehead.

"I'm sorry I'm not much help, Sash," Viran said to her as if she could hear him. "Please give me a sign that you are okay."

She didn't respond. Viran continued to dab her head with the cloth while staring at her face. Her beautiful face. Even in this sickly state, Sasha still had this natural beauty to her. With her soft, gentle features and long, silky hair, she drove Viran crazy with how beautiful she was. When they were younger, Viran always thought she was pretty, but never saw her in a light where he was attracted to her. She was like his sister for so many years. It was only the past couple years as they matured and got older that Viran started to fall for her. For her beauty. For her kind and compassionate heart. For her sheer level of badass she exudes from time to time. For her smile and laugh and…

Viran shook his head. Every time he would think of her like that, he would remember the rule of attachments that the Jedi Order taught them about from a young age. But the Jedi were gone. They were alone. And… he was in love with his best friend. However, he was never sure of her true feelings for him, if she had any.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a sound come from Sasha's lips. Viran leaned forward trying to hear what she was saying as more and more sounds came from her as if she was talking to him.

"Sasha?" Viran spoke up, hoping she would hear him.

The mumbling continued as she started to move around restlessly in the bunk. That's when Viran realized she wasn't waking up. She was having a nightmare. The last time Viran remembered her ever having a nightmare was when they were younger. It was always about that day, Empire Day. When she had that nightmare, it would cause both Oppie and him to wake to comfort her. Well, Oppie would comfort her. He would just sit at the foot of her bed and just be there for her until she could fall asleep again. However, she stopped having that nightmare after the first year of them all being together. And if she had any nightmares after that day, she never told them about it. So seeing her react now to this fever induced nightmare made him think about what Oppie would have done when they were younger.

Viran moved to sit on the bunk and gather Sasha into his arms. He gently tried to shake her awake, but she was still in the nightmare. Instead, Viran just let her rest against him as he steadied himself against the head of the bunk. He didn't know how long he held her like this, but it was a while before she finally calmed and relaxed against him. When she did that, Viran sighed in relief. He laid her back down onto the bunk and looked her over again. Fever, still there. Pale and sweat covered skin, no change. Breathing… That's when Viran noticed her breathing had become more labored as if the air was being sucked from the room.

Panicked, Viran rushed over to their limited, very limited, medical supplies. He grabbed the last of the medicine that would help with her fever and a respirator mask to help with her breathing. He then came back over, gave her the medicine, and then set up the mask for her. Viran then sat nervously as he watched and waited to see if it would help her.

After a couple hours and no change, Viran made the executive decision.

"That's it," Viran said to himself and her sleeping form. "I'm going to get you help. I'm sorry, Op, but we can't wait anymore."

Darkness. It was just pure darkness. Sasha stood in the middle of nothing but darkness. Slowly looking around, Sasha couldn't see anything. Where was this place? Was this the inside of her head?

"Hello?!" Sasha called out.

Her call echoed into the nothingness. It received no response. Narrowing her eyebrows, Sasha called again only to receive the same response. Nothing but an echo. Suddenly, a faint noise started to build up. At first Sasha didn't recognize it then it grew louder and louder. With a grunt, Sasha brought her hands to her ears to block out the loud sound. It was ear piercingly loud. That's when she noticed that her head didn't hurt. There was no pain from the Sith taking over her mind. The only pain she was experiencing was her ear drums being blown out by… by an alarm? Slowly lowering her hands, Sasha recognized the alarm. It sounded exactly like… like the one on Master Redika's ship.

As Sasha straightened, the world around her shifted from pure darkness to suddenly being in the passenger compartment of a ship. Confused, she looked around to get a bearing of her surroundings. This didn't look like their ship. It looked like Master Redika's. It was his ship and the alert was blaring through the hull.

"What's going on?" a small voice rang from behind her.

Sasha froze. She recognized the voice. In almost slow motion, Sasha turned to see a little girl about 10 years old standing with a group of other young ones. To be correct, a group of Younglings. The little girl that, despite her age, stood taller than a majority of the others in the group. A couple of the other younglings stood around her height. She had short, cropped brown hair that perfectly framed her face. Sasha's breath caught in her throat as she realized it was her.

That's when Sasha recognized the young boy standing beside her to be Viran. He was shorter than she was and his normal auburn hair was a fiery red color that was cut short, but somehow still looked messy on his head. The other younglings Sasha hadn't seen since… since…

No, this was that dreaded day on the ship. This was that day when Master Redika died. When her friends died. When Oppie, Viran, and her escaped from the Empire. And this was where that horrid nightmare always started. As if on cue, Sasha heard the sound of someone running into the compartment. She turned to see a sixteen year old Oppie.

"Oppie, what's happening?" Viran asked.

"It's hard to explain, but Master Redika wants you all to head to the shuttle," Oppie said.

"But why?" Young Sasha asked.

Sasha felt tears sting her eyes. She knelt down before her younger self.

"Stop asking questions," She told her. "Just get to the shuttle."

"We'll explain later. We have to get to the shuttle, quickly now." Oppie said. "Follow me."

Sasha watched as Oppie led the group of younglings out of the compartment and toward the shuttle access port. She followed behind them as if she were floating on mid-air. However, as Oppie rounded another corner, younger Sasha hung back as she spotted a familiar face of one of the rangers walking down toward them. The ranger pulled his blaster and started firing on them. Sasha squeezed her eyes shut as she looked away. She could hear the shots land. She could hear her friends scream as they fell. And she could hear Oppie telling her to run.

When Sasha opened her eyes again, they were at the shuttle hatch. Just Oppie, Viran, and her. Oppie was holding his right shoulder as he ushered them through the hatch.

"Stay here," he ordered. "I'm going for Master Redika."

Sasha watched as Oppie ran back the way they came from. She then turned her attention to her younger self. She was calling for Oppie to come back. After a moment, he did return, joined them in the hatchway, and they launched from the ship aboard the shuttle. Then everything went back to darkness.

Collapsing to her knees, Sasha cried.

"What a mess," the Sith's voice rang.

"What are you doing here?" Sasha hissed.

"Like I said last time. I have complete control of your mind," the Sith appeared before her. "Which means I can peek around in your memories. This day has a lot of scars and pain connected to it. I can understand why now. I mean you kept asking too many questions. You alerted your enemy to your presence. It's your fault they died."

"No!" Sasha scrambled to her feet. "I am not the reason for their deaths. It was the rangers. They were the ones who betrayed us. Who killed Master Redika. Who killed the others. Not me."

The Sith started circling her. "You can lie to yourself all you want, but we both know it's true. I can sense your guilt. Is that why you always have to help everyone?"

"What do you mean?" Sasha asked, confused.

Suddenly, the area around them changed and they were back in the square outside of the cantina. Sasha looked over to the center of the formed crowd and spotted the Jedi. He was being arrested just like she remembered. She then spotted herself trying to get to him, but Viran held her back.

"You see?" the Sith continued. "You tried to save the Jedi, but your friend held you back. You wanted so badly to save him, but you didn't help him, you left him to die, just like all the other dead Jedi across the galaxy. You abandoned them, just like you did as a youngling all those years ago"

"No, that's not true," Sasha shook her head. "There was no way to save him and us without all of us being caught. We couldn't risk it. He knew that. He understood that. He was trying to protect us from harm."

"And yet, he now has perished thanks to you," the Sith said. "That's more Jedi blood on your hands."

"No, no. Stop filling my head with lies," Sasha demanded. "I know what really happened. I was there. I know."

"You may know what happened, but do you understand what you did? You abandoned the Jedi. You caused your friends to be caught and killed. All while you ran away each time to save your own skin. Admit it. You are the reason all of this happened. You are to blame for everything. Your friends won't admit it, but you know deep down it's true."

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Sasha screamed out.

The Sith and the square disappeared. All that was left was the darkness. The darkness and her tears.

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