Bastila, her blue eyes filled with worry, slid them shut once more and let the bond flow through her. She concentrated her entire being on the discipline. She swam through his subconscious, felt his own need to find a memory, a hint, anything as she drifted past. For just a few moments she felt a sense of terrible pain, her face... angry with him, the cause. She felt her centre lurch, wanted to do... something, anything to take the pain she caused him away. But, with the knowledge that both Revan and her friends needed the information contained in Revan's mind, she pushed away from it. Focusing on the fragments of Revan's mind, she reached out slowly... hesitantly, into the floating shattered mess of what remained.
"Remember, what I show..." She felt the fog of it shift and.... listen. Slowly, she let the image of the cloaked figure in the message drift out of her mind and fade into the swirling fog. "Remember..."
Revan watched silently as his lover focused all her talent on helping his broken mind recall anything. As he listened, the whispering voices shifted, swirled with the rolling fog, that grew more and more violent. A sudden movement off to one side made him gasp and step defensively in front of Bastila's concentrating form. Suddenly another movement to the side had him spinning. There, outlined in the hazy mix of blue and grey fog, stood Juhani.
"This is my place of dark power! The place which you have invaded!"
He watched as the hazy figure of his Cathar friend ignited her lightsabre and lunged at him, the blade passing through him like mist, even as he back peddled. He shook his head, remembering the time that Juhani, almost consumed by the darkness, had attacked him in exactly the same way. That must have been a memory... one of his own. He wondered what it would be like to see one of Revan's.
Just as the thought ran through his head, he felt a sudden sliver of agony hammer itself into his skull. He gasped in pain, only to watch in horror as the red fog deepened and swirled violently. Another spike of pain forced him to his knees, and he heard the same pained gasp from Bastila as his pain trickled through the bond into her. She struggled, trying to break the discipline... but her pained expression gave way to one of horror, as it refused.
Staggering around, trying to blot the pain, Revan felt the gentle breeze whip into a frenzied, cold, hurricane. He struggled against its pull, only to feel his feet slowly give way and slide across the mindscape's 'solid' surface. Unable to stop the pull, he stumbled into the red swirling fog.
As the mindscape darkened, the faint light giving way to pulsing red, Revan turned, desperate to find Bastila, to pull them both from this mediation. His eyes widened in horror. She had vanished into the thick fog and he had no idea which way to go to reach her.
Bastila opened her eyes, a sudden feeling of dread permeating her as she looked around a suddenly empty mindscape. The fog, soft and blue, rolled gently as she called her lover's name, unanswered. She turned to stare at the red swirling vortex and licked her lips nervously. "No...."
Reaching into the bond, she touched his life Force, knew he was alive, but missing. Around her, she felt the mental discipline surge and roll, helping Revan investigate the memories of his darker self. Now, however, she knew it was dangerous, as she had stopped mediating a few moments ago, yet the discipline remained, powered by the bond.
"I knew this was too dangerous now. The bond is too strong, and the fragments carry much darkness, much desire to be seen and felt. Oh, Revan, where are you?"
Worried, she closed her eyes, and began to hunt the vastness of his subconscious. He had to be there somewhere, drawn into the darker shadows of it, thanks to her meditation. She only hoped that she could find him, before he came to any harm.
Revan knew he was in trouble. He'd lost Bastila, and now the red fog swirled around him, almost with menace. The lack of any landmarks meant he had no idea where he had fallen into Revan's shattered remains. The gale wind that even now tugged at his robes had spun him violently around, he was totally disorientated.
As he tried to focus on the bond, to focus on Bastila... two figures walked out of the blood red mist. Revan gasped in shock, stepping back as they walked calmly towards him, ignored him. To his horror, he felt them pass through him, almost as insubstantial as mist.
Recognising one of the figures, Revan felt a shudder run through him at the face he saw there, shrouded in a dark cloak. There, the mask clamped tightly to his face... stood Lord Revan. Beside him, the female, who had remained cloaked through all of this, and even now remained a mystery. As the two figures continued to walk away from him, Revan followed, cautious, yet fascinated.
A memory... I'm living a memory from... from him."
The past, the present.
"You see? Is this not amazing?"His voice... cold, sadistic, delighted"Look at all this, left here by the Rakatan for so long. All of it, forgotten."
"You brought me here for a reason, Master?" Revan scrambled forwards as they walked away, wanting to hear them. "I have so much to do, so much to accomplish for you."
"You doubt the power of what they left behind... their curse." Revan's head snapped around, as his darker self placed one restraining hand on his assassin. "I want you to see that I am right, that this will give me a decisive weapon to use."
"But it has sat here for so long, Master." The cloaked hood swung to her dark lord. "I can't believe it works anymore!"
"What we have found elsewhere still functions, why not this?" Lord Revan waved a hand. "This is power, our power! Come, you need proof."
Revan watched as his other self walked quickly into the darkness, only for the dark red fog to clear in front of him with a billow. Revan could only gape, as the huge pillars and ornate black stone walls of Rakatan design slipped into place. Soon, he found himself in the familiar ancient designs of a Rakatan temple, one that sometime previously, his other self had visited. Whatever was happening, be it a dream, nightmare or vision, this could provide what they needed. He just hoped that Bastila was safe, so that when he next saw her, she could tell him that. "I told you so!"
Revan stared at the two Sith as they walked into a massive chamber. The roof disappeared into the gloom, the floor lit by glowing crystals set into the walls. Around the walls themselves, lay hundreds of faintly glowing purple rods, which to Revan's surprise displayed tiny status displays next to them. Where were they?
"So, where is this proof, Master?" Revan's assassin tilted her head, the cloak still hiding her features.
"Here." Lord Revan turned to the Sith guard standing next to a huge stone column and nodded. With a quick salute, the Sith trooper walked over to a control panel, and hit a few buttons.
"What the..." The assassin gasped, as with a rumble, the stone column began to shift. Slowly, shards of stone and dust pattering to the floor, it rotated into the hidden roof, leaving behind a plexiluminum tube.
"Here, here is the proof." Lord Revan gripped her arm and pulled her close, and Revan, standing back from the two Sith, in the shadows, craned his neck to try and see what lay inside the tube.
"My goddess!" The assassin hissed, and Revan was surprised to hear shock and even disgust in her voice. "How... how long?"
"Five minutes...." Lord Revan's voice was gloating, satisfied. "It's programmable too."
"I... Master, this is."
"I know. Lovely isn't it." Lord Revan turned to her and grinned. "With this, the Jedi will come to know the curse, the curse of Revan. Come, we have much work to do, to prepare for the destruction of the Jedi, and the annihilation of the weak Republic."
Revan watched as the assassin glanced at whatever lay inside the tube, shuddered and then hurriedly strode after her Master. "Master, wait..."
Lord Revan paused at the vast doors to the chamber and turned to her. "What?"
"That... other device. The one we found." She glanced around, obviously afraid of listening devices. Revan smiled slightly. If only she'd known. "Do you really think it'll still work after all these thousands of years?"
"The Forge has lasted all that time, why not that?" Lord Revan sighed. "You are concerned that the acidity of the rain has compromised the temple?"
"Well, no.... Rakatan technology seems to be designed to last. I... I just don't want to trust you to that machine, Master. We have no idea if it's been damaged or if our decrypting of the Rakatan language is correct. Please, don't use it."
"I have already made my mind up." Lord Revan told her, his voice quiet but slightly menacing. "Malak is a fool, he sees only what I wish. You, you I am showing everything. Don't make me doubt that."
"Revan..." The assassin's voice was quiet, almost upset. "I am concerned for your well being, nothing more."
Revan watched as his darker counterpart sighed and nodded.
"I know, but things are progressing beyond my control, or yours. This technology is our inheritance from the Rakatan. With it, the Sith shall be triumphant, I shall be triumphant. You, you will take Malak's place, and rule as my closest ally and confidant."
"Yes, Master."
"Come, don't sound so concerned. I've got our science teams poring over it as we speak. You know that's how we managed to decipher the map left there that led us here. Until they say it's safe to use, I'll stay away from it. Besides, you and I have much work to accomplish before that part of our scheme can be put in place."
"Yes, Master."
The present, the past.
Revan watched as the two Sith walked into the faint flickering image of a doorway and vanish into the blood red fog that lay behind it. Unable to help himself, Revan turned reluctantly to the tube. From his angle, whatever lay at the bottom of the tube remained hidden by a small rim of stone that the rotating section mated with when it descended.
Slowly, Revan walked towards the tube. Whatever had made the assassin of his past shudder, lay at the bottom. Whatever lay at the bottom was a clue to whatever was going on now. Whatever lay at the bottom of the tube had painted it a bright red, a bright, blood red.
Despite the fact that he knew this to be a memory, Revan licked his lips in reluctance. "Only a memory... almost like a dream... what's in there happened ages ago..."
He walked slowly towards the tube, and steeling his nerve, looked in.
At the bottom of the tube, lay a Jedi. He could tell, just, from the blood red and dripping robes that clung to the mass of flesh on the base that it had been a Jedi Master. The body was almost... digested, to his eyes. Blood and other bodily fluids had sprayed across the transparent material, eventually pooling when the... woman had stopped... writhing in agony. It had to be a woman, the straggled dripping mass of honey blond hair and what remained of her face made it possible to, just, tell.
Revan turned away, his stomach lurching at the sight of it. Whatever had done that to the young woman was deadly, quite deadly. Trying to centre himself, calling on all his Jedi skills, he turned back to the mess that was once a fellow Jedi.
Her face and body had been ravaged, the skin either dissolved or... eaten away. No scarring or burns that he could see. No cuts or damage by a blade. He leaned in closer... only to bite down on a fresh surge of queasiness as he stared at her face. Ravaged by the same... whatever, her face was now a mass of flesh and pulped skin. Her eyes were gone, milky white with no pupils. Blood had leaked from the corners of her eye sockets and added to the general pool of various fluids.
Revan shook his head and backed away. He'd seen something like this once, and that had been when he, Juhani and Jolee had stormed the Star Forge. He'd come across one of Malak's lieutenants, crushed to a pulp by his former apprentice using the Force. It had looked a lot like this. Except... something else had happened to her, but what... he had no idea. All he knew was that it was his fault... and now, he had to stop it.
A sudden thump, made Revan's blood freeze, and he felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle in sudden unease. Unable to help himself, he turned slowly... and fought back a scream of terror.
There, pressed against the glass, were the pulped remains of the female Jedi. Sticky remains of her own skin and muscle dripped from her as she stared at him with those milky white eyes. Her bloody mess of a mouth, slid open, and, as blood trickled from it, she showed yellowed and rotting teeth.
"Murdererrr..." She hissed, her voice gurgling and as rotten as her body. Revan took a step back. "You try to run from what you were, but this is what you did! This is what you have hidden. You planned for the entire universe to suffer!"
"No...." Revan whispered, and groaned as the tube holding the dead Jedi slid into vapour. She grinned, rotting bleeding gums holding stumped remains of teeth, and began to shuffle towards him.
"You are Lord Revan, always were, always will be... though you refuse to acknowledge it... You killed me, as an experiment." She laughed... the sound almost a death rattle. "A test, and part of you remembers that. No matter how fragmented your mind has become.
"I didn't do that... he did." Revan watched as the memory vanished completely to be replaced with the red fog once more. "There has to be more... what is it? Where is it? Tell me!"
The Jedi grinned and shook her head. "You created me to guard this secret, but removed the final knowledge of what the curse was to protect it. Only you could unlock the information to guide you to it... with the right sentence. I'm waiting for it."
Revan stared at her. "You... you're a program? A defence? What secret are you protecting?" He could feel no life from the figure... or a mind. Only patterns, complex, rooted in the darkside of the Force. Almost... Rakatan in nature? "Rakatan... the defences here are Rakatan? Not Sith?"
"Sentence not recognised." She grinned, malevolently. "Now, what you created to protect your darkest secret gives you one more chance. Awaiting verification!"
"I have to stop them, I need the information you have!" Revan backed away from her, heart hammering in his chest. The Force meditation flickered around him, surrounded him. But, the focus of it was in front... the patterns that defined its purpose. A program created in the Force as others would in a computer... so like the Rakatan. "You're not real. This mind is destroyed, shattered... you don't need to protect anything!"
"Ah, yes I do. Destroyed or not, I will fulfil my purpose." She smiled stepped forwards once more. "Ever hear of Force based traps? Revan was powerful. He had many secrets he needed to protect. There are many here that you, anyone... does not need to know, yet. Verification denied... Accessing termination protocols."
"Stop!" Revan looked around, desperate. He could feel... it and knew it could harm him. "I created you once... Stop!"
As he slipped backwards, away from her, the dead Jedi grinned. "You are my creator no longer. I was created to kill those who attempt to access the information you found. I have killed none so far. But now... Now I must kill the mind I was created in. That is my function... that is my purpose."
Unable to stand looking at her, unable to stand the stench of rotting flesh and foul fluids, realising it was hopeless, Revan turned and ran through the fog.
"There's nowhere to go, you've gone too far into the little of what remains! Too close to the secrets you wanted to keep hidden. There is no escape... I will complete my purpose!" She called after him, before vanishing in a puff of red fog.
Revan ran through the dark shattered remains of his past life, struggling to fight the fear that threatened his mind. Part of him knew that this was what that... trap, wanted. But knowing and trying to stop himself were two different things.
"Bastila..." This one thought ran constantly through Revan's mind. "Don't think about that Jedi's death, that's what it wants... fear... fear leads to the darkside... make it stronger... I have to find Bastila... get out of here!"
"Find Revan, get out of this dark hole." Bastila muttered, staring into the swirling blood red fog. The bond shivered and led into the swirling vortex of what little shattered remains of Revan's past remained. She'd tried everything she could think of to contact him, inside his own mind, but the bond, and her lover had remained silent. Trying to contact Revan inside his own mind and failing... the irony was not lost on her.
Now, she stood, gazing into the dark blood red fog and feeling the dark side trickling around it, teasing her, tormenting her.
"Revan?" She called into the darkness, a feeling of dread washing over her. "Revan, can you hear me?"
She waited, shivering in the feeling of cold that slipped form this dark place. The fragments of Revan's mind had gravitated to the darkness that remained inside of her lover, the kernel of the dark side that lived in all of them. She knew that entering the area was dangerous. The strength of the bond had twisted the discipline she had used once before to pull the memories of the Starmap's from Revan's mind to something new. She and Revan were not safe from anything here. Coming to a decision, she stepped back and closed her eyes.
Reaching deeper into herself, she grasped her own control of the Force tightly and called out one name, the name of the Jedi who had promised to help them if something like this occurred. "Fara.... I need your assistance!"
Revan ran aimlessly. The fog had darkened even further, and now it pulsed with darker shadows than before. He stopped, staring around him with dread. "Wrong way, damn!"
He jumped as a hand suddenly brushed his shoulder. Spinning, he turned, only to see nothing. Another touch... this time on his back. He span once again, his heart hammering in his chest. Nothing...
"No emotion, only peac... gah!" He managed... only for another touch, this one wet, to brush lightly against his neck. "Hello? Sith spit! Stay calm, your fear is feeding this, it's what... that, wants."
Revan backed off, only to bump against a solid object. Turning, he gasped in shock. He was pressed against a smooth curved wall, black... freezing to the touch. He stepped back, craining his head as his eyes looked upwards. It stretched off into the distance, the fog dancing around the top above him. He felt the chill that emanated from it, felt dark side pulsing through it. This was dangerous...
"Is this the kernel of darkness that Uthar spoke of? Is this mine?" He stared at the sight of his own darkness and felt a shiver pass through him. "This is... my darkness? It's so... big. Jolee was right... I have a shadow on my soul... following me everywhere I go."
A sudden sound of shuffling made him spin round. There, in the dark, hundreds of eyes, only detectable by their faint reflection of the weak light, stared at him. He stared back, there were thousands of them.
As the fog faded, he found himself standing in a mass of people. Every single one of them stared at him, and each had some sign of death. Revan span, feeling his fear rise once more at the sight of them, surrounding him. Suddenly they all raised one arm and pointed at him.
"Murdererrr!" A voice... No, thousands... all were speaking at once. "You killed all of us, you are guilty!"
"No! Lord Revan did that, not me!" Revan felt their hands begin to claw at his robes and he fought rising panic. "This isn't real, it's an illusion! I'm in my own head, my own mind."
"And how does that make it any different?" The voices asked him in unison, hundreds of shadowy figures stepping out of the red fog to claw at him. Revan stared at them all, hundreds... and held back a scream as they clawed at his robes... trying to drag him into the dark. "The darkness calls for you, you will answer."
"Sith, no!" Revan cried out as the hands of all the people Lord Revan had once killed, dragged him slowly backwards. "Someone help me!"
He struggled, fighting the clawing, grabbing hands. Calling on the Force, Revan yanked himself backwards, away from their grasping fingers. Desperate, he pulled himself to his feet and ran as fast as possible. More figures, people he didn't recognise of so many species, so many faces, more came sliding from the red swirling fog of what remained of Lord Revan's mind. Fear swamped him, cold and clammy as he fought to free himself from their grabbing hands.
"Join us... join the dead."
As he began to feel the hands win, to pull him towards the scrabbling shadows of the dead, he felt the bond burst into glorious life, a shining thread that burned with Bastila's life-Force.
"Revan!" Her desperate voice called out. "Revan where are you!?"
"Bastila!" He called back, feeling the bond between them surge past the oppression of the dark side as she got closer to him. "Where?"
"I'm here, I'm coming." She struggled to reach him, past the trap that Revan had triggered by going to deep into what remained of Revan's mind. She tried to ignore the shadows of the dead. Her own experiences with Revan's shattered remains had steeled her against this, and she pushed past them. "This is all an illusion, powered by the Force. Revan was protecting something!"
"I know! I got something... but the rest of it is protected by this... thing. We have to get out!" Revan batted the hands that reached for him, out of the closing red fog, aside. "I can't find the way out, I've been trying to find the way... trying to find you."
"You have gone too far into what remains of his mind, into the darkness of your subconscious." Bastila reached for the man she loved, felt her own arm covered in bloody scratches from all these... things. She had to reach him, had to. "Revan..."
He felt her fingers, warm, powerful, and alive, grip him and pull. The hands of the dead tugged at his robes, trying to pull him back to the darkness of the trap that the shattered remains still held, but Bastila was stronger. With a huge effort, she pulled him close and held him tightly.
"Come, we must hurry. Fara is pouring every ounce of her own ability with the Force into the link we have created. It was the only way I could enter this far into Revan's darkness and not lose my way back. See?"
Revan saw the thin line of light stretching into the depths of this darker area of his subconscious. Bastila's hand slipped into his, and she began to gently pull him with her.
Revan looked at her as they ran along the blinding white thread. "Thanks, for saving me from myself."
Bastila's eyes flicked across to him as they ran, the clawing, screaming figures fading into the red fog. "Just promise me one thing. Never, ever ask me to do this again! I told you that the bond had changed things between us, it's too strong now and these fragments yearn to be felt, tainted as they are by the darkside."
"I..."
The snap of a lightsabre made them both slide to a halt. There, standing between them and the swirling vortex of red fog that lead to Revan's unshattered mind, stood the rotting Jedi. Bastila's hand flew up to her mouth and she gagged on the smell of rotting flesh.
"You cannot escape. I must fulfil my purpose."
"He's gone! His mind shattered! I'm all that's left!" Revan stepped in front of Bastila, missing her frown as he did so. "Let us go!"
"I cannot. You have to be destroyed." The Jedi darted forwards, missing narrowly with the blade as Bastila yanked Revan sideways. "You did not give me the correct access code."
"Revan, we have to get past her... she's feeding off our Force!" Revan glanced at her. "The remains of Revan's mind cannot focus the Force. We woke this... program up, with our prying. It's feeding of you... your Force, like a parasite!"
The Jedi swung her lightsabre again, and Revan cried out as the blade slashed against his arm, leaving a smouldering line. "What the..."
"It's using the Force to attack us... Revan, get out of the way!" Bastila stood quickly and ran at the Jedi blocking the only exit. With a grin, the Jedi raised her lightsabre and swung, only for Bastila to smoothly grip the hilt and hold on tightly. "Revan, run... for the exit!"
"But, Bast..."
"Do as I say! It's using your Force power! If you leave, it will shut down!" Bastila staggered as the Jedi began to jerk and grapple with her. "Go! I cannot hold on much longer!"
Revan staggered to his feet, the burn across his arm screamed at him as he did so. Gathering himself, Revan ran towards the flickering red vortex, the exit point of the shattered dark lord's mind, and back to his own.
Bastila groaned as the Jedi, the Force defence-program... wrenched her off her feet and flung her against the swirling 'floor' of the mindscape. She had a second to take in a breath of air, only to release it in a scream as the lightsabre plunged into her shoulder.
Revan span, to see Bastila writhing on the floor. He moved to turn back... help her, but she gritted her teeth and shook her head at him. "No.... RUN!"
Revan turned, and praying to the Force that Bastila was right, pushed his way into the swirling red fog. He felt giddy for a few moments... and then fell against the blue pulsing fog of his own mindscape. With a groan, he felt the fear, the confusion suddenly lift as the... thing Lord Revan had placed to protect his memory of the curse lost its hold on his Force power
"Bastila..." He whispered, staring at the swirling fog. "Please be safe..."
Suddenly the vortex shifted violently, and Revan reared back, worried that the program had followed him to his mind. But the figure that appeared clutched her arm gently, and familiar blue eyes stared at him in pain. "Revan..."
"Sith, you're hurt!" He slid to his feet, only for her to shake her head. "Bast, that needs to be looked at."
"This is all in our mind, created by the bond, our Force powers... We need to leave, now!" She groaned, the blood trickling down her arm all to real to Revan. "Concentrate... we need to return."
With a nod, and a final glance at her bleeding arm, Revan touched her gently and closed his eyes. Together, they concentrated on retreating from the mindscape the bond provided... Revan felt Bastila's mind join his, focus, as he was, on returning to the physical world.
Back to Reality
With a flicker of light Revan felt the real world return to him and he slowly opened his eyes. To his surprise, Revan found himself staring up at the ceiling of the meditation chamber.
"Bastila?" Revan slid to his knees, only to have a worried Fara jab him suddenly with a Kolto needle. He shook his head and the room span. "Ow."
"Careful," Fara steadied him, and he felt another pair of hands slip around him as Bastila slid into view. Fara sighed and he felt her administer another shot of Kolto. "It seems Revan's legacy to you includes some rather nasty mental disciplines. Bastila was strong enough to pull you out of their grip, but I would suggest you stay well away from that area of your mind for a time."
"What was that? I know it was a protection... but nothing I have ever seen was like that." Bastila frowned at Fara and the healer sighed.
"As I told you, a Sith of Revan's power would have created... protections for his more private thoughts. Many Sith do, as a rather nasty surprise to their apprentices, the ones who manage to surpass them. It seems that some of Lord Revan's protections have survived the shattering of his mind. Now, they attack any who invade the memory they protect, even Revan himself."
"I'm not that Revan, that's why she... it attacked me." Revan murmured, wiping the blood from his face. "So, it was a protector, but why attack me with the illusion of all the dead that Lord Revan killed? He'd be unaffected by that, so would most Sith. Means to an end, even Yuthura'll tell you that."
"I would suggest that it was designed to attack the thing you fear the most." Fara licked her lips. "For me, possibly hundreds of people crying for aid, and I can't assist them. For you, the fear of all the innocents he, and as you keep believing, you... killed"
Revan nodded, the thought that it had attacked Bastila... hurt her to make him pause hovered at the back of his mind. "Oh the brighter side of things, I may have a lead."
Bastila's hand tightened on his shoulder and she leaned in. "What?"
"There was a mention of a planet in the dream that could be a good place to start. A planet with acid rain... They found something there, and a map that led Revan to something that he called the 'Curse of the Rakatan'... a weapon."
"A planet with acid rain?" Bastila frowned. "That is a beginning I suppose, but do you have any idea how many planets have a hostile environment like that?"
"I know, but it's a start."
"We must inform the Council at once." Bastila pulled Revan to his feet and with a slight hesitation, ran her hands across his face. "Master Jestra should begin to hunt the archives for any planets containing a atmosphere that allows acid rain and a dark side aura, that should narrow it down even further. Once we have that, the spirit can take us to each one."
"What would I do without you?" Revan murmured, only for Bastila shake her head.
"That was dangerous... I never wish to do that gain. If you ask me, I will refuse. We both almost died!"
He felt her pull back and he sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be that dangerous."
"I told you it could be!" Bastila snapped suddenly. "But helpless Bastila, Bastila who knows more about the Force than you, could be ignored!"
Fara watched quietly as the young woman shuddered and reined in her temper. She sighed inwardly and felt a tug of empathy at the looks of shame, upset and worry that slipped across Revan's face.
"I did listen, but this was the only way..." Revan trailed off as a trickle of blood suddenly snaked from Bastila's nose and she winced. "By the Force, you're hurt!"
He moved to help her, but she stood quickly, warding him off. "I do not need to be saved all the time! I'm capable of looking after myself!"
"Bast..." Revan began, only to have Fara gently place a hand on his arm.
"Bastila, that needs tending to. Come, sit." Fara patted the soft carpet in front of her, but Bastila shook her head forcefully.
"No, I can do this myself." She ignored the room as it slowly began to spin and slipped her defences in place as Revan tried to read her through the bond. "Go and see the council, I'll be there shortly."
"But..."
"Please, do as I say... I will be along soon." Bastila walked out, trying to walk normally, even as her legs wobbled.
Revan sighed, watching her go and glanced up as Fara touched him gently. "Trouble?"
"I... I... yes." He finished, watching as she gently took his wrist and timed his pulse. "Healer Fara... Do you... are we."
She looked at him and smiled softly. "I think you are having what everyone in a relationship has."
Revan stared at her and swallowed. "What?"
"Bastila is trying to set boundaries." Fara stared after the young woman and sighed. "She is a strong woman, capable and intelligent. She feels you are being overprotective."
Revan sighed at her gentle tone and felt his hands slip up to hold his face. "In your professional opinion, am I?"
"Do you think you are? That is the question you should ask both yourself and Bastila." Fara watched as Revan struggled with his emotions, only to sigh and gaze at her with restrained misery.
"What... how can I fix this? I need her...." He admitted. "I love her. How do I sort this... barrier between us? How do I stop this from going any further?"
"I have found, with all relationships, that when couples fight, the only solution is to talk." Fara slipped backwards from him and gazed at him with compassion. "You both have things to say, to feel. You want to reassure her that she is strong... that you want to keep her safe, but not coddle her."
"Yes." Revan whispered. "I want to protect her when she can't protect herself."
"I understand that, but Bastila does not. From what I have seen, what I know from the academy records, Bastila is very independent. She grew up abandoned, or so she thought, by her parents. Hated, again she thought, by her mother. She found she had to rely on herself to cope, survive. Later, when her battle meditation surfaced... she finds she has to save the universe on her own. How do you think that made her feel?"
Revan sighed and shrugged weakly. "Alone, and in danger. It's how I'd feel."
"I would agree." Fara whispered. "Then along you come, Revan the redeemed dark lord. Along comes a bond, personal, intense and frightening. You are in love with her, and she is falling for you. Now she has someone who keeps getting in the way, helping her to fight battles that she fought on her own. I think... I feel, that Bastila is trying to work out where the line needs to be drawn, as do you."
"I want to help her face danger... not stop her doing so. Look at just now, she saved me from that thing... and was hurt. I... I fear for her."
"Then the only thing I can suggest, is that you tell her that... that you talk together and solve these problems." Fara slid to her feet and with a bow, watched as Revan slid slowly upright, a faint frown on his face. "The Force deemed you to be together. Both you and she risked everything to save the other. I think that together, you will find the solution."
Revan nodded and he bowed to Fara. "Thank you, Healer Fara."
"No thanks is needed, Revan." Fara smiled and gently touched his heart. "The solution is in there... for the both of you."
Jedi medical wing. One hour later.
Jolee dealt the third hand as Mission watched him warily. To her abject horror, she was down two games, another hand and she would be the one fetching caffa. To add to her horror, she now felt annoyed. Jolee knew how close he was and kept grinning at her in a distracting way.
"Kid?" Jolee cocked an eyebrow and Mission felt her blue skin prickle with sweat. "Well?"
"Don't rush me, ya bantha herder. I'll deal." She watched as Jolee flipped the card gently into the group of cards that lay in front of her. "Okay, that's something I can deal with."
"Heh, not to rush you, but my caffa is getting cold sitting in the replimat."
"Sithspit, give me a chance, ya old wrinkly." Mission stared at the cards in her hand and then at the numbers on the table. She sighed and flipped down on of her prized dual cards. "Right, twenty! Beat that old man."
"Hmm," Jolee slowly flipped himself a card and grinned. "Eighteen, now then."
Mission watched in horror as Jolee's wizened hand hovered over his own hidden deck cards and then selected one. She held her breath, knowing... just knowing that this would be one of the few times she would loose a game.
"Uh, oh my Lekku." A gravelly voice groaned behind them, making Jolee spin round, all interest in the game forgotten. "What happened to me?"
"Well, from what Revan told me, a very large hunk of permacrete." Jolee laid a gentle hand on Yuthura Ban's arm and smiled. "How do you feel?"
Yuthura stared at him, her face creased against the throbbing pain in her lekku. The tails themselves curled in defence around the pillow and she groaned again. "Like I got hit on the head with a lump of permacrete! How do you think?!"
"Well at least your wit survived the hit." Jolee closed his eyes and concentrated for a second. To Yuthura's surprise, the pain faded and then vanished totally. "There, that should put you back in a good mood."
"Thank... thank you." She managed, cursing inwardly at how strained it sounded. "What happened?"
"You tell us," Mission chipped in. "You're the one who ended up in the middle of a burning building."
"I... I remember walking back to my quarters, from the Cantina. I'd just reached the corridor my room was accessible from when... when something hit me. I... I remember heat and the concussive blast... it made me fall against the wall, hard. I hit my Lekku, made me disoriented for a while." Yuthura winced at the memory of pain. "Next thing I know, the ceiling roof tiles are falling on top of me, and as I tried to get out from under them, Juhani staggered past."
"She didn't see you," Mission told her defensively. "All that smoke an stuff!"
"I am not attacking her, little one." Yuthura snapped, again regretting it at the sight of Missions own anger. "All I said was is that she ran past me, obviously heading for my room."
"Right." Mission glanced down at the patient next to her and Yuthura frowned.
"Where is Juhani? Last I recall is swinging above this burning pit."
"Heh, useless." The raspy voice of her previous self was full of scorn and Yuthura groaned. "I'd almost hoped you'd suffered permanent brain damage. Being free of your whining and whimpering about the darkness and all this regret is sickening. To have life in your comatose body would be a blessing."
"Shut up!" Yuthura muttered, only to look up and see Jolee and Misson staring at her in shock. "Not you two."
"Okay," Jolee frowned for a few seconds, but let it go. "To answer your question, Juhani is right next to you."
Yuthura felt a chill swamp her. Why, she had no idea. "Why? Is she alright?"
"When she rescued you, she inhaled a lot of the smoke from your room. It seems that the smoke from there was acidic, highly acidic. She took it into her lungs and of course, it began to dissolve them."
Yuthura felt her stomach lurch, and she struggled to sit up, to crane her neck. There, lying on the bed next to her lay Juhani. Yuthura's eyes took in the pale skin under the golden fur, the various tubes and machinery attached to her Cathar saviour and she shook her head in guilt.
"No.... Oh no." Yuthura felt a huge lump lodge in her throat, felt her stomach roll at the sight of the brave, fiery Cathar lying so very still. "Oh, Juhani."
Mission's eyes widened as she watched Yuthura's Lekku coil in guilt and horror. The ancient language of her people was impossible to lie with, to other Twi'lek... She realised, right then and there, that Yuthura Ban really had changed. Maybe not a Jedi, not yet. But she was so like Juhani... when Mission had first met the Cathar, that it was startling. Mission felt an urge to try and reassure the ex Sith.
"Hey, don't worry." Mission licked her lips as the pale purple eyes piercingly focused on her. "Ju's a fighter, always has been. The medic said she had, like, no chance. But she's still breathing an that kolto is doin its job. I think she'll be okay."
Yuthura swallowed, felt a slight relief trickle through her. She would live. Juhani was a fighter, that she knew. "I hope so, by my gods I do."
Jolee looked across at Mission... saw the exhaustion caused by the past two hours. With a sigh, he came to a decision. "Yuthura, I need a favour."
Yuthura frowned at the old Jedi and cocked an eyebrow. "A favour? From a Sith Master?"
"No, I need a favour from an ex-Sith, missy." He watched as she flushed a deep purple and smiled. "Old men like me need to sit down for a while dammit! So, I need you to look after Juhani. Mission needs a break too, and we both want caffa. So, be a good girl, and look after our Cathar patient for us, okay?"
Yuthura stared at him, suddenly too tired to argue. "Very well."
"You are so pathetic!" The voice in her head murmured, full of disgust as Jolee and Mission walked quietly out of the ward. Yuthura closed her eyes and concentrated on the discipline Fara had taught her. "Screen me out all you want, I'll be waiting Yuthura!"
The voice faded and Yuthura sighed in relief. Her eyes flicked to the still Cathar, and she came to a decision. Slowly, she slid out of the medical bed and her bare feet hit the floor with a slap. With only a slight wobble in her step, Yuthura slowly pattered to Juhani's bedside and crumpled into the chair next to it.
"Why did you come into that burning building?" She asked the still form on the bed. "You were such a fool to do so!"
Juhani remained unresponsive, only the click and beep of the life-support pack as it administered kolto in regular shots, broke the silence.
"Why did you come? Why?" Yuthura glanced around and, finding no one hesitantly slipped a hand around the Cathar's. "Please, you have to fight this! I cannot have your blood on my conscious... too much innocent blood has been spilled for me. Force, I would give anything to have you safe and sound. You are worth far more than a crippled ex-Sith..."
She stopped, unable to stop the self-loathing at how weak she sounded. She wanted to let go of Juhani's hand, but some part of her ignored the feeling and gripped it tightly.
Suddenly, without a second's warning, the hand Yuthura gripped convulsed. Her pale purple eyes widened in fear as a great shuddering cough burst from Juhani's lungs, and the Cathar's eyes flickered.
"Juhani? Juhani can you hear me?" Yuthura looked around and spotting a medic walking past the ward yelled. "Hurry! She's awake, Juhani's awake!"
The medic appeared again in the doorway and, seeing the gasping coughing Cathar, ran into the room. "Okay... she'll be okay."
"What's happening?" Yuthura demanded, unable to keep the worry out of her voice. "Talk to me by Sith!"
"It's fine, the pack has given her a stimulant to wake her up, it's managed to repair the damage to her lungs." The medic clicked a button and the life support pack slid off Juhani with a click.
Yuthura blinked as she got a quick image of Juhani's naked, smoothly furred, stomach, and then the medic pulled the bed sheets over the Cathar. "Stay with her, this has all been a tremendous shock to her system. I'll go and get her some herbal tea, to help her relax."
"But I..." Yuthura began, only to sigh as the medic walked briskly out. "I have no idea what to say to her."
Juhani groaned and Yuthura's eyes flicked to the Cathar's face. Her eyes remained closed, but she was obviously conscious. Yuthura leaned in close. "Rest Juhani, I'm here. You're safe."