Hello! This story has some references to my version of KOTOR Fragmented. You shouldn't need to read Fragmented to read this (though there may be spoilers to that story here).

Hope you enjoy!


If only I'd just let him die.

That dangerous thought drifted into my mind on occasion these past few months. It refused to leave my mind now as I followed the Masters through the dimly lit halls of the Dantooine Enclave. Sweat, dust, filth still clogged my pores after the destruction of Taris. Not to mention the emotional toll…I don't think I've ever witnessed such atrocities. Even with all that I've seen so far.

If I'd let him die, none of this would have happened.

I could sense him now. Revan. I could sense him even though he was in the mess hall. Fear consumed me. Not my own fear. No. The fear of being near him had long since passed. Whether I should be afraid of that strange comfort however…well…

No, this wasn't my fear.

This was Revan's fear.

No. Wesley Gale. I had to remind myself of this new identity so much so that I avoided calling him by name as a rule. And he, Revan—Wesley—tested both my devotion to the Jedi and my patience.

How could one man be so stubborn? So arrogant? Part of it wasn't his fault, of course. Well, no, what am I saying? This is his fault. All of it. The whole thing on Taris was never supposed to happen. We were never supposed to talk. Or interact. Not even look at each other. The Council insisted that I stay as far away as possible from him, both for my safety and for the galaxy's sake. Yet fate, or the Force, seemed to want me to work with him. With Darth Revan.

Master Dorak stopped as we were walking towards the Council hall.

"Padawan?" His wrinkles creased as he frowned. "I sense your unease. Perhaps you should rest for a bit. You have gone through a great ordeal."

Oh, no. I straightened—trying to suppress my anxiety.

"I'm fine, Master Dorak. This...this is important."

Master Vandar wasn't convinced.

"What is troubling you, Padawan?"

I sighed. I could never lie to him.

"I...it's...something happened on Taris…" No one walked the halls. So, I could go into detail. "Something happened...with the bond."

Both of them exchanged a look.

Dorak nodded. "You can explain at the Temple."

As if I could explain.

We eventually arrived at the Temple. Master Vrook Lamar and Zhar sat up as we marched into the room. They must have sensed Taris' destruction as well since I could see the unease on their faces. Vrook shot me a suspicious look—one I'd grown familiar with over the past few months. Zhar stood, hands shaking.

"Is he—?"

"He's alive," Master Vandar said. "But something peculiar has happened."

Vrook huffed while throwing a hand. "What did he do this time?"

Dorak nodded at me—I was supposed to answer. I took a deep breath and then spoke without a hint of emotion in my words.

"He saw a vision."

My statement caused the rest of the Masters to freeze. I myself had shivered in fear once I realized that to be true. Revan had become aware of the dreams we shared. His memories. Zhar sat down, his own legs wobbled. Vrook's face turned a bright shade of red.

"How is that remotely possible? We cut him off from the Force, he shouldn't..." Vrook paused and shivered. "Does he remember anything? Does he remember who he is?"

Did he? I thought back to our time on Taris.

Wesley never said anything about his past other than a spare quip about his "smuggling" days. It was almost impossible to tell if he bought it or if he was simply playing along. The Republic soldier, Carth Onasi, demanded an explanation about Wesley's past. I told him what the Council told me to say. Wesley knew multiple unknown languages and he was required for this mission. I doubt Onasi believed me, but it was all I really knew about the false identity of Wesley Gale.

Of course, I could have tried using the bond to verify yet the bond had its limits. I couldn't search his mind too much or else he would have known immediately of my presence. Which left speaking directly to him. Regrettably.

He had a…personality of sorts. Not a good one—Force no. At least he didn't seem to act like Revan. While Revan had been a monster, he had also been less…cowardly.

Which only meant there was only one answer.

"I don't think he remembers anything. No."

"Yet how can you be so sure?" Vrook growled. "Releasing Revan onto that Republic warship was a mistake. We should have left him as a captured smuggler in his cell and thrown away the key. Justice served. It isn't worth it to see even a glimmer of what he knows. Our desperation will bring about an end to the Jedi Order."

"We didn't release Revan only because of that," Master Vandar muttered. "The vision…"

"That vision wasn't clear," Vrook snapped.

"Grandmaster Sunrider foresaw Revan defeating Malak," Dorak said. "This possibility—"

"Our ailing Grandmaster who is too old and sick to lead us in our time of need, if you remember. Revan could have been a Sith in her vision. And Nomi Sunrider…she is biased when it comes to Revan." Vrook's face darkened. "Which is why we have more of a reason to lock him away, but instead we released our doom!"

Dorak waved a hand. "Peace, Lamar, let's not start jumping to conclusions. We still need to hear what Bastila Shan has to say. Perhaps not all is lost."

Both of the Masters who led me there took their seats on the raised plinth and I knelt before them. My pulse raced and I tried so very hard to suppress my fear. But, recently, that has become more difficult.

No thanks to Revan.

Master Vandar waved a hand. "Please, Padawan, tell us what happened. From the beginning."

I bowed my head once then licked my dry lips. And I told them everything that had happened both on the Endar Spire and Taris…

The mission had started without issue. We arrived at the Outer Rim and started jumping to key systems that the Dark Lord had visited before. Or, at least, the ones safe enough to visit. As we jumped from system to system, I used the bond to sense if anything returned to Darth Revan's broken mind—as I suggested to the Council. I figured if I had to be stuck—bonded to the Dark Lord—I may as well try to gain as much information from it as possible. For a week there had been nothing.

Taris had been close by and the Sith had recently occupied the planet. Revan also had a history with the world. It was risky, but all of the jumps we made led to nothing. No memories. No change. Taris would surely bring something back. Even if it was a faint spark.

I thought...the Sith fleet had been taken care of a week prior. Foolish. The Sith only wanted us to believe that. When we jumped to Taris, the Sith ambushed the Endar Spire.

Zhar frowned. "What you did was reckless, Padawan."

"I know, Masters." Force, I knew. My mistake cost…so many lives. "It...I had become desperate. I didn't want the mission to last longer than it already did with Revan on board. I feared the worst."

"What's done is done," Master Dorak cut in. "So, the Sith ambushed. How did you escape?"

"I got to an escape pod but I was captured by...thugs. They shouldn't have caught me unawares, yet I'd been exhausted after the battle on the Spire. I was in and out of consciousness...the thugs put a neural restraining collar on me." I paused—afraid of my next words. "Then I sensed him. In the dark. Revan. At first, I thought it was just the bond. But I sensed more from him than that. Power. The Force. I'm ashamed to admit it, Masters, but I...borrowed some of this power to escape from my bonds."

As I bowed my head, I could sense disappointment from the Jedi. I hated this. Listing off my failure after failure. What a fool.

"Where is he?" Master Vrook asked Dorak.

"Revan's been secured in the abandoned wing for now. If he asks why he's locked in, we'll say it's a malfunction," he answered. "He will stay there until we decide what to do with him."

"You say that like it's not obvious what we'll do with him. We'll cut him off from the Force again and put him under arrest again," Vrook spat. "He's an escaped criminal after all."

I felt a twinge of guilt. If Wesley hadn't worked with that Mandalorian, we never would have escaped. And this is how we would repay him? A cell? Prison?

"But, Masters…" I flinched as they all stared down at me. "Wesley saved my life."

"Wesley isn't real." Vrook waved a wrinkled hand. "You're more correct in saying that we saved your life. The personality of Wesley Gale was created by the Jedi Council to placate the Dark Lord's true self. To stop him from both escaping and to stop him from remembering too much. Nothing more. Revan would have killed you the instant he realized what was happening."

"Yes...of course…" How foolish. Of course they had to imprison him. But still, at times it felt as if Wesley was…more real than Revan. As crazy as that sounded. "I wasn't finished, Masters. There's more."

"Then continue with your story, Padawan," Master Zhar said.

"After I released myself, we managed to get away from the thugs. And that night...he had a dream. A dream of our confrontation."

This revelation caused all of the Masters to glance at each other once more.

"So, despite being cut off from the Force, he could still sense its Echoes." Dorak crossed his arms. "Psychometry."

"That may have been what restored his connection to the Force," Zhar pointed out.

Vrook shook his head. "Then it's worse than we thought. If he touches or experiences something that makes him remember, we are all in danger. This is why he should have stayed locked up on Coruscant in a controlled environment. Who knows how many things he'll 'recall' by just staying at this Enclave?"

"Masters, I told him that it was a...a dream. A vision induced by his Force sensitivity. He didn't think it was a memory."

"Wait." Vrook narrowed his eyes. "You told him that he is Force sensitive?"

"I-I didn't have a choice!" I said, voice shaking. "He was having those dreams every night. He asked me about them. If I didn't give him an explanation...I didn't know exactly what he would conclude."

"Hmm…" Vandar rubbed his small chin. "Yes, that is reasonable, young Padawan."

"Reasonable?" Vrook huffed. "Now that he knows he is Force sensitive, I have no doubt he will try to use his powers. Not for good, I guarantee that. The only option we have left now is to make him forget…all of it."

Vandar's small face scrunched as if he was in pain.

"Let's not jump to that quite yet. We need to see him first. Perhaps we need to consider…training him in the ways of the Jedi."

The Council looked at Vandar as if he had lost his mind even though it had been the conclusion I'd come to as well. Though…only because I noticed how the Dark Jedi reacted to Wesley. They knew he had power. If the Sith learned of his existence…then it wouldn't take long for Revan to truly return once more. Of course, I wanted to voice this reasoning, yet the Council had once again gone into their never-ending arguments.

"Vandar, we discussed this." That was Dorak this time. "We will never train Revan in the ways of the Force again. It is too dangerous."

"If we wanted to turn Revan into a Jedi, we would have done it while he was susceptible," Vrook said. "It would have been safer then too. So, I agree with Dorak. Training him at this point now…it is far too dangerous."

"Is it?" Zhar's gaze had become misty. "Would it be so bad to have a second chance to make things right? We could…fix our mistakes, Lamar."

"Mistakes?" Vrook hissed. "We made no mistakes. Revan's fall was on Revan."

"Not completely."

Those two words Master Zhar spoke had been under a whisper. This was the first time I'd ever heard one of the Masters even consider that they were partially to blame for what happened with Revan, so I sat up. They'd already forgotten I was there anyway.

Vrook scoffed. "Yes. Master Kae trained him, but we fixed what we could. Her faulty teachings…that was not on us."

"This isn't about Master Kae." Zhar's face was still serious. As serious as I'd ever seen him. "This is about the war."

"The war? You aren't saying—"

Finally, Master Vandar raised a small hand. "Let's not get into this again. We have spoken about Revan and the war many times and have gotten nowhere. What happened…it's in the past. Now we need to decide on what to do with Wesley Gale."

And they debated on the subject for…hours. Occasionally, the Masters asked me questions about Wesley's personality. I told them all that I knew about him, that he was arrogant, rude, not fit to be a Jedi, really. Yet did we have a choice at this point? If the Sith found him, we would all be doomed.

Eventually, they came to a conclusion.

They needed to see him.


And a decision was made. Wesley Gale was to be trained and Master Zhar, along with myself, were to be his instructors. It was a task almost too daunting, too fragile. Training the Dark Lord of the Sith in the ways of the Jedi...if I hadn't been the first one to suggest it, I would have laughed too.

The barren study room echoed with silence as Master Zhar stood at my side. Waiting. Staring at the empty desk that had been piled high with datapads. I checked the time on my own datapad. He was an hour late. Again.

Master Zhar clicked his tongue.

"He isn't going to show up."

I sighed. Was my only purpose going to be chasing a childish man around the Enclave? Because so far it seemed to be the only reason I'd been stuck with training him too.

"No. He isn't."

Zhar shrugged. "Oh well."

I wanted to snap yet held back.

"Shouldn't I look for him?"

"There is no need for that."

No need? "Aren't we supposed to be training him?"

"In a way, he has already been trained. No, he needs to come to us." Master Zhar must have sensed my unease at that. "I know you feel…burdened by this, Padawan, but it won't last long I'm sure. I'm confident that he'll come around."

Burdened? That was an understatement.

"I'm sorry to say, Master Zhar, but you haven't had to put up with him on a personal level. It'll take longer than you think."

"Ah, but I have if you recall. He's stubborn. He'll always be stubborn. I feel as if that quality of his is almost ingrained in him. But there are ways to deal with it. It takes patience."

I raised a brow. "How have I not been patient with him? This is the third day he has refused to show up. He's playing games with us."

Master Zhar sat down in a meditative stance.

"Just wait."

Is he joking?

No. He wasn't, was he? He was just going to wait for him to come around on his own. Knowing Wesley that was never going to happen. Which meant I had to do this alone. As always.

With a small huff, I finally started my search for this childish man. Closing my eyes, I used to bond to search for his presence. His dorm? No, he wasn't asleep. Canteen? No. The Ebon Hawk? Not there either. Which only left the gardens.

I found him laying down on a bench staring listlessly into the sky, hands crossed in front of his chest, his injured leg propped up while his healthy one dangled off the side. He almost looked...at peace. There were some meditating Padawans and some younglings studying in the field of grass near the edge of the wall. There was occasionally a flicker of light. It was a coin of some sort being flipped into the air. Wesley flipped the coin once then twice before sighing deeply.

Eventually, he shot up—he'd finally noticed that I was standing there. A flash of suspicion crossed his eyes…along with that mischievous grin I was used to seeing.

"Stalking me again, huh?"

I flinched. "I'm not stalking—" No. Don't fall for his bait. I cleared my throat. "You missed this morning's lesson."

"What's there to miss?" He laid back down and then flung the coin into the air again and again as he spoke. "I read what Master Zhar gave me. I already have a clear picture of the Jedi's beliefs. There is no emotion; there is peace. There is no death; there is the Force. Yadda, yadda, yadda. It's religious mumbo jumbo. Not interested."

He threw the coin in the air again but this time…I couldn't stop myself. With a small push, I used the Force to fling his little toy across the gardens at the wall of the Enclave. After the coin rang against the wall of the Enclave, he sat up once again. His lackadaisical expression had grown serious at my display of…foolishness.

I quickly lowered my hand.

"It is more than that."

He didn't say anything back, which was…unusual for someone like him who never seemed to shut up. Wesley limped towards the wall, towards the coin, and bent down to search the bushes. Eventually, he found it and slid it into his jacket pocket.

I took an unconscious step back when he limped up to me. He stared down at me with that serious look on his face again.

"You're crazy."

I blinked. "I'm crazy?"

"You expect someone like me to just…go along with the Jedi code like that?" He snapped his fingers. "I'm sorry, but I'm not that easily coerced into hokey religions."

Hokey religion?

"It's not a case of being coerced." I tried to keep my voice from shouting due to the other students in the garden, but oh, it was so hard not to shout. "It's a matter of life and death. You need to learn the ways of the Jedi so that we can find the Star Forge."

He crossed his arms. "And why exactly do I need to do that?"

Force.

"We've gone over this. It's for your own protection."

"Why can't Master Zhar just teach me how to use the Force then? Why do I need to learn all of this philosophy on top of it? It seems like a waste of time."

"Because there is more to the Force than moving things with your mind." I took a deep breath, trying to remember that I was technically talking to someone who knew next to nothing about the Force. Even if…he was technically familiar with it all the same. "There is a proper way to use the Force. You…we don't want you to fall to the dark side."

"Ah, which means we're back to that again. You don't trust me."

Of course I don't trust you. I didn't say that out loud, otherwise, I would have been even more of a fool. Perhaps he was sensing my distrust even though I shielded my thoughts.

"This is training that every Jedi goes through, not just you. If that's what you believe then that would mean the Jedi don't trust anyone."

"Exactly."

Maybe this is why Master Zhar chose to wait instead. Probably saved his sanity. But I was stuck with this argument now. I had no choice but to convince him because there was no way I was going to let him win.

"How could you possibly come to that conclusion?"

"Hmm, let's see." He walked back to the bench and then sat. His datapad was in his hands and he flicked through the digital pages. "Emotions—dangerous. Attachments—dangerous. Mistakes—dangerous. Existence—dangerous."

I rolled my eyes. "You're misinterpreting that."

"I am? How?"

"The Jedi code isn't saying that emotions and attachments are dangerous. It's saying that we need to be careful with them."

"Isn't…that the same thing?" His face was scrunched as if thinking deeply. "You only need to be careful when something is dangerous. It seems to me like the Jedi are treating their students like frag mines that haven't burst."

"But…that is…the Force itself isn't dangerous. It's those who wield it incorrectly that are."

"That's what I mean, then. The Jedi don't trust anyone with the Force." He laid back down. "So learning all of this…the code…it's a waste of time."

I felt heat grow in my ears. This…arrogance. It was familiar, of course. Revan had been known for his arrogance at the beginning of the Mandalorian Wars. In a way, I understood the Masters' frustrations with him now. He seemed to think he knew everything. He knew all there was to know about the Force and the Jedi even though he knew nothing, truly.

There was still something…something that I sensed in him as he lay on that bench. Something I could use. I wasn't going to let him win. Couldn't let him win.

"Well, you'll have all the time in the world to waste." I spat. "So much time. I'm sure you have so much to do, laying there, staring into the sky, doing nothing."

Wesley's body…twitched. Eventually, he sat up with a gleam in his dark eyes.

When I returned to the study room with Wesley in tow, Master Zhar shot me a small smile. He whispered in my ear as Wesley got ready for his lesson with a groan.

"He was bored, wasn't he?"


I actually had part of this chapter written a while back - I've wanted to write a piece from Bastila's perspective. I intend to write a chapter for each planet (maybe two if they get too long, heh). Of course, I won't be updating this as often as Fragmented, but I figured I needed a break from Wes' POV every once in a while. Bastila is an interesting POV to write for sure though :)!

I hope you enjoyed!