Rachel had barely slid into the pit, when she gently extended her wings. Of course, she wouldn't be able to hold all five of her friends in the air, but she would at least slow their descent. To her surprise, though, she immediately hovered in place, with no resistance, and a moment later, her heart sank, as she realised she was no longer holding Chloe and Warren's hands.
"Chloe? Warren?" Rachel called, as she shot downwards, along the Sarlacc's body. Her wings fanned out, flooding the chamber with soft, white light. "Anyone?"
"Uuugh… Rachel?" Chloe's distressed voice called out.
Rachel flew towards the source. To find Chloe laying face down on cavern floor, her robe splayed out around her.
"Chloe!? Sweetie, are you okay?" Rachel asked, in a panic.
Chloe carefully rolled over and sat upright, wincing several times in the process. "I think my leg is a little messed up."
Rachel frowned sympathetically, but knew better than to directly offer help to her headstrong friend. "How's your Force Healing coming along?" She asked, delicately.
Chloe smiled appreciatively. "Little help?"
The two of them aimed their palms at Chloe's injured leg. They could feel the Force flowing through her body, and how her injury was affecting it. With some minor manipulation, they corrected the flow, and a moment later, Chloe's bones and muscles realigned themselves, prompting a fleeting gasp of pain.
"Thanks." Chloe smiled, offering her hand to Rachel and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "Where's everyone else?"
"We must have gotten separated…"
"What, during our fall from the top of this chamber?" Chloe asked, sceptically.
The two of them looked up, just in time to see the last slither of sunlight vanish, as the sarlacc lowered back into the cave, leaving the crystals, and Rachel's glowing aura as illumination.
"The Force manipulates events all around the galaxy. That's especially true in focal points like this…" Rachel said, in a teacher-like voice.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning things might get weird, down here. The cave must have separated us, to… test us, or whatever… individually."
Rachel and Chloe began heading deeper into the cave.
"So how come we're still together?" Chloe posed.
Rachel considered the question. While she was connected to all five of her friends through the Force, Chloe and Max were different. She adored them both far more than any Jedi was supposed to care about anyone. Max was like a sister to her, and Chloe… Rachel's cheeks turned light pink, and her aura followed suit. It wasn't the first time Rachel had thought of Chloe as being more than a friend. Jedi weren't celibate, but romantic feelings were strictly forbidden, and even Rachel, with her youth and naivety, understood why. If Rachel were to entertain her feelings for Chloe, and was lucky enough to have her feelings reciprocated, then a relationship would bloom, leading to their connection growing all the stronger, and the closer they got, the worse Rachel would feel, should anything bad happen to Chloe. Such grief and trauma were textbook examples of what drove good Jedi to the Dark Side.
"Rachel?" Chloe emphasised her question, after a few seconds of walking, snapping Rachel out of remorseful internal monologue.
"Oh, erm… I dunno. I guess the cavern just has challenges we have to face together." Rachel said, with a nervous laugh.
It seemed as much as Rachel tried to supress her feelings for Chloe, the cave knew they were there, and it felt like it was calling her out.
"So, are you excited to finally get your lightsaber?" Rachel asked, with a grin.
"Heck yeah!" Chloe replied. "Man, I can't wait for the next time a cop tries to bust me for vandalism, only for me to go all Jedi on their asses!"
"Come on Chloe, you really think you'll get away with using your lightsaber against cops?" Rachel gently criticised.
"Dude, I don't care if I get away with it! We're talking about Coruscant cops here, some of the biggest crooks in the galaxy, who aren't Hutts."
Rachel sighed, adoring Chloe's spirit, and not wanting to dampen it, but not wanted her expelled from the Jedi order, either. "I know, Chloe, but I don't wanna know what'll happen if the council have to bail you out of jail. I mean, they might just not!"
Rachel braced herself for Chloe's dejected and frustrated admission that Rachel was right, but it didn't come.
"Rachel, I know I'm just a kid, but Coruscant is a mess, and I'm gonna do what I can to clean it up. If the council won't help me… well… I've still got you…"
Rachel smiled appreciatively, and took Chloe's hand. "Always."
The tunnel veered downwards. Chloe experimentally kicked a pebble over the edge, and it clattered against the edges of the tunnel for several seconds, before the sound faded away. The girls didn't hear it hit the bottom. Chloe took Rachel's other hand, and hung beneath her, as the Diathim floated gently down the width of the rocky shaft.
Even though Chloe's hands clutched Rachel's tightly, Rachel still felt Chloe's muscles tense, uncomfortably, after several seconds of floating down.
"Hey Rachel…?"
"Yeah?"
"I was kinda kidding about you breaking me out of jail… but seriously, I'm so glad you've always got my back."
"Wh… what?" Rachel laughed, not used to Chloe being so sincere. "Where's this coming from?"
"I dunno… I guess I just feel like I should be more mature, now that we're gonna be real, saber-having padawans, and it's making me realise that I don't always appreciate how lucky I am to have you in my life. I don't know what I'd do if I had to live under the Jedi's rules, without you… I don't even know if I'd still have the guts to be a rebel, and an artist."
"What about Max?" Rachel asked, curiously, her heart thumping louder, in anticipation.
"Come on dude, I love Max." Chloe replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "But you… you're… different."
Chloe's feet came to a rest, as the tunnel levelled out. Rachel, with Chloe's words swarming around her brain like a flock of mynocks, didn't notice, and continued her descent, collapsing gracelessly on top of Chloe, and causing her to trip and fall, in her attempt to catch Rachel. Chloe lay on her back, on the cavern floor, while Rachel knelt over her, her long, silver hair (as Chloe perceived it) spilled over her shoulder, brushing the side of Chloe's face. It was like a scene from a movie.
"Different?" Rachel breathed.
Chloe sat up, and Rachel knelt on the cavern floor, next to her. "Rachel, you're not just my biggest fan, or my backup against the masters, or even just a friend… we could never just be friends…"
"Why not?" Rachel almost whispered.
Chloe placed a hand lovingly on Rachel's cheek. "Because… I think I love you, Rachel."
Rachel's heart didn't soar. She didn't throw her arms around Chloe and profess her own feelings. She only smiled slightly and nodded, a single tear rolled from her eye. However, it wasn't the looming disapproval of the Jedi, that soured the moment Rachel had spent so long dreaming of. Before she could reveal what it was, though, both girls looked sharply upwards, responding to a sense of impending danger, combined with a rapid set of footprints.
Coming quickly down the tunnel towards them, were a series of erratically dancing lights which, when they entered the light of Rachel's aura, revealed themselves to be two of the gigantic, horned spiders that had accosted Max.
"RUN!" Chloe cried, grabbing Rachel's hand and racing down the tunnel.
Rachel swept through the air, beside Chloe, as the latter sprinted through the cave, faster than any non-Force adept could, leaping over chasms and rocks, as though she had spent her whole life in the tunnel. For a while, it seemed as though they'd be safe, as the pursuing predators gradually fell behind, but then, disaster struck. Ahead of them, another ominous set of lights danced, before a third spider lunged out of the shadows, from ahead of them.
"Turn around!" Chloe ordered.
Rachel did, and, back-to-back, the two padawans cast a barrier with the Force, which blocked the tunnel on either side of them. They ground their teeth in exertion, as the enormous arachnids ran their plentiful feet over the shields, attempting to force their way through.
"So…" Chloe grunted. "Two on your side, one on mine… think I can do that math…"
"I'll push mine back, you stun yours and we'll run your way?" Rachel guessed Chloe's plan.
"On three… one… two… three!"
Rachel heaved with all her might, forcing the two monsters sliding back, their feet dragging through the dirt. Behind her, she heard the slam of flesh hitting rocks. Rachel span around, to see Chloe's spider lying in a dishevelled heap, but rapidly climbing to its feet. The two children attempted to race past it before it recovered, but the creature was barely incapacitated for a moment.
Chloe had sprinted three steps, when the spider lunged forwards and thrust one of its feet downwards, brutally pinning Chloe to the cavern floor. Its jaws spread outwards revealing dozens of ferocious teeth. Rachel only had time to squeeze her eyes shut and cry out in protest, as they were thrust towards her captured friend.
"NOOO!" Rachel shrieked, as she heard Chloe's agonised screams.
Keeping her eyes shut tight, Rachel scrambled backwards and cocooned herself in a tiny force field. Dread consumed her, throbbing inside her, spreading further with each beat of her heart. The Force felt… different, more powerful, but also more wild, and dangerous. Rachel had never touched on the Dark Side before, but didn't need to, to know that she was close to doing so now. She felt like she was on a precipice, overlooking a void.
"This isn't real!" Rachel shouted to herself, over Chloe's screams, wording the sad epiphany she'd made, after Chloe confessed her feelings. "I love Chloe, but she has her flaws. She's insincere and awkward with her feelings, and as little as she likes to admit it, she's always held back by the inhibitions the Jedi taught her. I wish she was more free, and felt more comfortable expressing herself… but I'm worried about what it will mean for her career if she does… The cave is showing me what I want from Chloe… not who she really is…"
As Rachel spoke, Chloe's screams, combined with the gnashing of spider teeth, slowly faded away, but Rachel kept her eyes closed. She felt her heartrate slow down, and the ominous lure of the Dark Side slowly concede. Even now, she was, at most, 90% certain her theory was correct. She dreaded to think what would happen to her if she opened her eyes, to see Chloe's ravished corpse. Although she had resisted the Dark Side for now, it may as well have been a step back, before a running jump, if her fears were confirmed.
Rachel built herself up to opening her eyes. "One… two… three!"
Chloe, and the spiders were gone. Rachel gave a brief, half-hearted laugh, before tears started to pour from her eyes. She had been almost certain that Chloe was just a vision, and yet she had still almost lost herself, when she died. Today it was fake, but one day, Chloe would die for real… How could Rachel let herself get closer to Chloe, after a demonstration like this?
Rachel was about to lift her hand, to wipe her eyes, when she noticed her fist was clenched around something. Opening her hand, she wasn't surprised to see a tiny, blue crystal.
"Dick move, cave…" She whispered, wiping her tears with her other hand.
