Chapter Five: In Which We Learn a Lot About Shadow, though the Character's don't because I'm Writing this from the omniscient point of view... and yeah, I have been working a lot on school lately, so I may just be quiet but that isn't any fun... snicker. So, In Which We Learn About "Shadow", and her past, and an Interesting Plan Is Made...

((A.N: The part with just Shadow was written only by me, Eowyn, and not RPed like the rest of it. Sigh. There'll be a few scenes like that from now on... if the readers didn't notice, by the way, this is... sorta... following the LotR plot line, and from this point will slowly lose the insanity, turning into a dramatic plot... heh heh heh...))

The door slammed behind her, creating an echo that filled the room with sudden noise. Shadow found herself thinking at that moment that everything the Empire did was so plain-- white walls, white shining floors... shining. Everything was clean and white. Clean enough that she could see her own reflection dimly on the washroom floor, a black spot over the pureness of it all.

Black hearts... her dark clothing reminded her all too well of what was within the heart of the Imperials... all Imperials. From the Emperor himself, to the lower ranking commanders on a Star Destroyer far away from here. She locked the door to the room, a habit that took precedence over her frustration. Shadow stared into the mirror. Whose face stares back at me now... a face that no longer shows Tiana, and serves as a cover for her.

She looked over the reflection that came back clearly. Black hair... it's dyed... blue eyes... contacts... fairly tall... Shadow glanced down at the platform shoes she was wearing. Every part of me is a lie, a cover... a falsehood. Something to reflect back Shadow when I'm not Shadow.

You can't accept Tiana though. I can't! It'll kill her. If I become Tiana... who knows what'll happen... Shadow will not leave easily.

You see. Already you talk of her in third person. Already Tiana's taking her hold back on you.

The dark-turned girl closed her eyes. Her voice was dull when she spoke out loud. "You both exist within me... so who am I now?"

The voice of Shadow within. No longer I, traitor.

She flinched. "But not Tiana either."

When the half that made Tiana spoke, the voice was quiet, soft, and yet hardened. No. Not Tiana. You are in between, as you were caught the day I was killed. The day you let go of your past.

"I have no past."

There was no answer but the echoes of her own voice in the enclosed room. That, and the memory of a Jedi Master's words but a few minutes earlier. "Turn into yourself and look! You might not like what you find in there, but it's better than to leave it and rot inside... Shadows are insubstantial. Shadows have no identity, no purpose except to tag along after their masters... A shadow cannot exist without the presence of light."

One last memory... "You're trying to tell me truth? How's this for truth? You are very appropriately named-- you are nothing but a shadow of your past"

"If only you knew..." It was Shadow's voice that spoke sharply at that moment, a voice dripping with darkness, but it was Tiana that acted, Tiana that sat down on the floor, sitting cross-legged suddenly. And it was Tiana who spoke along side of Shadow then. "Look within, eh?" In a conjoined voice, she said one last thing, "Now we return to the Shadow Realm."

Shadow closed her eyes, and allowed herself to remember...


Entering the darkness, the two wondered suddenly whose memories had been unlocked by looking within. But, looking to each other as Tiana and Shadow-- two separate beings, they knew.

Shadow spoke darkly, "Now you know." Shadow no longer looked quite the same as she had been mirrored before, she now had a wraithlike appearance... she was as a shadow, and not human.

The girl that looked like to Tiana had an expression of shock to her face. She looked similar to Tiana Elass, the Padawan we all know and love, but different in another way-- her eyes were darker, and more knowing, her face showed an understanding not found when one searched the other Tiana's face. Her voice was also different, a voice that showed the hardship she had been through. "This... is where you're from?" A low voice, and full of tears almost.

Shadow shrugged it off. "The Shadow Realm, Tiana-- a place of nothing but shadows and darkness. No light to create this place, but where the shadows are captured alone. Where I grew up until light took me. Until you took me."

"You wouldn't let me fight you away."

"But who would want to return to a place like this?" Shadow was quiet for a while, until the dead silence of the place drove her to comment further. "I was once human, Tiana... once a part of your world too. But then I fell, and ended up here, in shadows. There was a life before this, but it is no longer a part of me."

Tiana's eyes were full of a strange light as she looked at the shadowy girl. "Who are you, Shadow?"

"I am nothing but the shadows cast by a light too powerful," Shadow commented dryly. "Together, we created who you were."

"And together we will fall." A darkness filled Tiana's eyes as she looked up at the shadow. "You know that there cannot be two Tianas... you know it."

A grim smile crept over Shadow's face. She glanced around at the darkness, as if searching it for something that could be coming. "I know."

"If you take her, you'll kill Jandalf."

"And you in the process."

"What?!" Tiana suddenly was at a loss for words as the understanding took her completely. "You... you..."

Shadow took a dark expression. "What do you expect from a shadow?"

"That's why you let your shields lessen. That's why you stopped blocking me. You wanted me to return." Tiana had a dangerous light in her eyes then, as she faced Shadow. "You wanted me here, so that you could kill the other Tiana, kill Jandalf, kill Obi-Wan. You planned this."

"And you played along, Tiana. Or are you Tiana?"

Tiana didn't speak, and nor did Shadow. They both understood exactly what the other was thinking. Tiana glanced down at her lightsaber, a dangerous light within her eyes.

"And you'd turn yourself dark," Shadow filled in, as Tiana dropped her arms.

Tiana just turned, and walked away across the shadowed plains. "You risked to face yourself," Shadow called after her. "Now you see that the darkness is within you too."

Silence grew between them-- Tiana merely stared at Shadow with a knowing smile on her face-- nearly a smirk. "That, and light," she finally said. "The shadows wouldn't exist without the light." She laughed darkly. "If this is the way it must be, you will see that I do not fall that easily."

"I take that as a challenge, Jedi." Shadow smirked back, a shadowed light in her eyes that was anything but pleased.

"No. Consider that a threat." Tiana did not smile, merely looked at her with darkness in her eyes, the same darkness that was around them. It was an oppressing dark, that covered everything but the dim light of iron lanterns hung up along shadowed pathways-- a sign that life had once existed there. There was no life any longer though. Just shadows.

"With pleasure." Shadow met her eyes with the same darkness captured within. "Now, shall we see if you can face yourself." She smiled darkly, and the shadows began to fade into a strange light, taking on the slow-found form of Coruscant. Tiana felt that it was the Coruscant of her time, and not of the time they were in now, but it was not the Coruscant that she knew from her time either. Indeed, there were still all the buildings reaching to the skies, and the metallic glint that shimmered from all the artificial constructs. With all her senses, she could tell it was Coruscant, but yet it was still wrong for Coruscant-- something felt wrong. Something was wrong. She looked over at the taller Shadow, who had now lost the wraithlike appearance she had in her own realm.

"What have you done?" She spelled it out slowly, darkly, with a threat behind her voice.

Shadow sighed, smiled grimly. "You wanted to face yourself-- well, I looked within, and found shadows. You have no memories in my body-- you can face Tiana."

Confusion crossed Tiana's face for a moment, and then she understood. She closed her eyes, and touched the buildings around her. "It's real. Not memory." Her voice was grim. "You wouldn't..."

"I did."

"I can't be in the same world as the other Tiana!"

"You won't cause any harm-- we will not be noticed, if all goes well."

"Won't be noticed?!" Tiana took such a shock across her face that she nearly stumbled backwards. "We're on Coruscant, 10 years ago in the other realm, and we won't be noticed. Yeah. Right. Like the Jedi will not notice a Sith in their midst. Like they won't notice that there is just suddenly another Tiana."

"Actually, it's..." Shadow counted. "It's 13 or 14 years from the time we were in-- a few days after this world's Tiana's 13th birthday."

"What?! You brought me here about 6 days after Tiana got a master, if this world follows mine!" Tiana was nearly to the point of screaming. "How on Middle-earth do you think we'll survive?!"

"Hush." Shadow smirked a moment. "You don't want to draw attention to yourself, do you?"

Tiana glanced around, and then back at Shadow. "Wha..." But the Sith had disappeared, and the location changed. She was standing in the middle of the Jedi Temple, with nothing but distant memories to guide her. I swear, Shadow, the next time I see you...

((A.N.: This is tricky to understand... hopefully it actually is understandable though!))

Shaking her head, Tiana looked around, still swearing vengeance on the Sith who had taken her here. She was quite familiar with time travel, and knew that it had been invoked in the kidnapping of Jandalf and "Tiana"-- all the others there, but hadn't expected that Shadow would've dared take her to another time, and, of all times, this time! It wasn't technically time travel, just a change between the realms that existed. A kind of teleporting, as it were. Face myself... she scoffed. Shadow, if I see you again...

It was the sudden footfall that caused her to jerk from her thoughts, and whirl to face Tiana. To face herself. It was a moment of staring before she understood the difference... this Tiana was a lot younger, and almost jumpy-- nervous. A feeling that she couldn't remember having for a long time. It's the time we're in, she thought. Any new Padawan feels the same way.

"Who are you?" It was the younger Tiana who spoke, the Tiana who stood in the doorway leading to the hall.

She realized she wasn't invisible as she had hoped then. "I'm..." She groped for a name, and settled on one. "I'm Lania. Lania Starstrider." Lania. The name of the girl caught between Shadow and Tiana. Caught between Shadow and the girl standing in front of me.

"I'm Tiana Elass." The younger girl held out her hand and Tiana-- Lania took it almost hesitantly. Could she make this connection to herself? The jolt that shot through her at the simple touch caused her to pull back. Tiana pulled back, and glanced down at her hand in alarm.

Lania choose that moment to wonder what she appeared as in this time-- obviously Tiana didn't recognize her as being her older self... in a manner.

"What happened?" Tiana asked, anxiously. The girl was full of questions, nervous, and inquisitive on the little things too. She would've made a great Jedi Knight had I not lived, Lania reflected wistfully.

"I'm... not sure." She hadn't lied, she didn't know what had caused the jolt, though she knew why-- it was because they were the same. Lania reached up to move her hair out of the way, and her fingers easily ran into the braid that had appeared there. She drew it forward, enough to see that her hair was a strange silver color. She wondered what she looked like if she had been standing in front of a mirror. She knew she was taller than Tiana, that was certain-- she looked down on the girl with her gold-brown hair, deep brown eyes, and green clothes. It took a moment of searching for Lania to remember why Tiana wore green Padawan robes versus the typical, but after a moment she remembered. It had been a simple accident in which she had split dye on her clothes, so she just went and dyed the rest causing an interesting reaction in the Temple.

There was a moment's reflection in Tiana's eyes, of something beyond what was happening-- as if she knew. "I'm sure you don't," she said distantly. "Have we met before, Lania?"

Lania panicked for a moment-- she had to remind herself not to react, because everything that happened now would be remembered later. "I'm not sure... maybe."

Once again, there was a strange look in her eyes. In Tiana's eyes. She regarded Lania with a distant expression. "You aren't Lania. Lania's the girl caught between Shadow and Tiana."

How does she know...? Lania fought to keep from panic. "Then who am I, if not Lania?"

"You're Lara'li," the girl answered simply. The name-- that name. It brought back memories, darkness, shadows, and something worse.

"No..." she whispered, forcing herself to keep from screaming. "Lara'li's dead."

"Lara'li isn't dead." There was a tone in the younger Padawans' voice that seemed all too dark for her own good. "Lara'li isn't dead, I'm not dead, you aren't dead, Shadow isn't good." Lania held onto the wall with one hand, forcing calm while inside she was screaming. How does she know all this?! "But who are you, Lania?"

Lania closed her eyes. The last thing she seen was a foreboding smirk on Tiana's face. I have to tell Jandalf...

She came to, fighting, and kicking in the washroom on the Garlic Star, the realization that she had been a part of Tiana's fall suddenly hitting her hard. "NO!"

There was nothing she could do.

You're Lara'li.

The girl's smooth and Shadow-like voice cut through her heart faster than any lightsaber could. She fingered at a strange necklace she wore while thinking, How could she know who Lara'li is...

((A.N: And I'll bet you're wondering too... (sings) The plot goes ever on and on... and you aren't going to learn for a long, long time... la, la, la.... I'm so mean...))


In the meantime, Audreidi was attempting to educate Tiana, Anakin, and Han in emergency processes, but was sadly failing. We all know how they act, anyhow... well, maybe not... well, let's see how well she's doing. Not very well, if you've actually read a word I said...

"Okay, people." Audreidi paced in front of them. "What's the first thing to remember in an emergency?"

"STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!!!!" Tiana announced, at least remembering some form of safety, although not what Audreidi had been looking for, as was obvious from her groan.

"Uh... keep a fire extinguisher handy?" asked Han.

"WRONG!" Audreidi sighed.

Anakin finally chose to attempt an answer. "Uh... run?"

"KNOW YOUR ENEMY!!" she filled in. "Whether it's fire or Sith."

Anakin nodded his head wisely. "Oohhh..."

"Whoops. Heh heh... I'm a slow learner..." Tiana filled in.

"Dang right, ooo." Audreidi sighed. Several times. "Now. Let's put our heads together."

Tiana attempted to put her's and Anakin's heads together, however, this merely caused headaches for both the two Padawans, and a loud clunk.

At the same time, Han succeeded in crashing his (very thick) skull into Audreidi's.

"Ow!" Anakin reached up to rub his head. "'She didn't mean LITERALLY!"

"WHY THE HECK DO YOU GUYS INSIST ON.. ergh." Audreidi groaned.

"Oh. Haha." Han laughed faintly, and rubbed his head. "Right."

Tiana sighed, and shook her head, succeeding merely in making the pain worse. "Ow. Anyhow, I think I know my enemy well enough..." She groaned slightly, though there was something else in her tone at that moment. Something dark, and shadowy-- like another presence all together.

"Really?" asked Audreidi mysteriously.

"Audreidi, please don't go all Vergere on us," Han requested.

Anakin sighed, remembering Rogue Planet. "So, what do we do now? Save Jandalf and Obi-Wan?"

Audreidi conceded to Han's request, and sighed. "I don't think the time is right to go after Jandalf and Obi-Wan, as much as I hate to say it."

Tiana was distant as she replied, "That's all right, we have other things to do, Master Audreidi..."

"Ooo!!! CAN I BLOW STUFF UP?!!!!" asked Anakin, a broad grin on his boyish face.

"NO!"

"Awwwww..."

Audreidi sighed, and threatened to slap him. Satisfied that Anakin was done whining, she began to talk again, seemingly the only one with plans, even though not the one with the plot. "What we need is a place where we can go to, and be safe before we rescue Jandalf and Obi-Wan. You know, a secret base of sorts."

"Our cells?" asked Anakin, still pouting.

"No."

"Ummm... no." Tiana gave him that look, a look that contained something beyond her typical frustrated mirth. "Garbage chute?"

"A place where we can actually come and go of our own FREE WILL!" Audreidi pointed out dryly.

Anakin pointed out that there was a washroom they could hide in.

"Anakin, we're half guys and half girls here," Han replied. "That's not going to work."

"Aw... drat."

"ANAKIN!" Tiana glared at him, un-Tiana-like.

"I didn't mean like THAT... oi." He sighed.

Tiana shrugged. "There's a food court... or maybe another planet."

"Ohhhhh, boy. You guys are hopeless." Audreidi sat down, and sighed. It seemed that, as was previously mentioned, they were hopeless.

"So, where are we going?"

Audreidi hit her head, and Han had to fill in for her. "To a secret base. Or something. Right?"

"Is anywhere on the ship secret?" asked Anakin.

"Unlikely." Audreidi sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair. "Therefore, we must get off this ship."

Anakin was quite pleased by the idea, as it meant flying, and he liked flying. A lot. "I'm the best star pilot here!" He looked quite pleased of that little bit of information, if nothing else.

"That doesn't matter." Audreidi looked them both over closely. "We have to split up."

"WHAT?!" Tiana was near to fainting-- or not. Maybe something else was causing her distress at this idea. "We can't... you can't... We'll be captured!"

Han looked at them carefully. "She's right. To increase chances of at least one party escaping, we have to split up."

"If we're all together, we're that much easier to capture." Audreidi looked over them again. Anakin and Tiana were both quite pale by this point, the latter of whom was muttering about having to attempt an escape without lightsabers, and any inkling of where they were going.

"It may not sound good now, but it will work better," Han Solo replied.

"Uhhhnnngggg...." Anakin was remotely, or more, deadly pale.

"Capture..." Tiana rolled her eyes back in her head, something that the present narrator cannot do actually, but it fits.

"It happens, okay?" Audreidi sighed, exasperated. "We were already captured anyhow. Just chill, ok, and focus on us getting out of here."

"Can't we just eat?" Anakin groaned.

"No time. We have to LEAVE."

Anakin groaned. This wasn't going too well-- no food, high chance of being captured, and painful things happening... they were doomed. And, actually, his thoughts weren't kidding about the pain, merely just that it wasn't physical pain, but mental-- much more the worse.

"I'll go left, you go right..." Tiana sighed. "Anakin can come with me, right?"

"Okay... and if you to are going to eat, they'll capture you for sure." Audreidi shot them a look of pure fury. "You are not stopping to eat."

Tiana sighed. "All right, Master Audreidi."

"We'll rendezvous... somewhere... I guess." Audreidi had to think for a long moment, not knowing where they were going to meet as it was. "We'll meet in the orbit of Sullust, okay?"

"Oh... okay." Anakin agreed to this, if only because Tiana was prodding him with the Force. She dragged Anakin off to the left hanger bay, and Audreidi and Han did likewise, walking off in the other direction, never to be seen again by mankind... okay, I'm kidding! This dramatic narrator thing gets to the person, you know...

MEANWHILE...

(hehhehheh... who needs horizontal rules anyhow?)

Jandalf the Orange poked at her newest helping of food-- previously she had been eating a sub, and now she was eating beef. It's strange what knowing that the food is free does to your appetite... heh. "These people's beef sucks. I mean, look at it," she complained. "Overdone like crazy." The narrator wishes to comment at this moment that she does not like rare meat, therefore the meat they serve at the places she creates will be well done, pressure cooked beef. Thank you. ALWAYS EAT ALBERTA BEEF!

"IT'S NOT OVERDONE!" Shadow screamed, returning to the table, and deafening the poor clerks who happened to be nearby. "It's COOKED, that's what it is!" She muttered about unappreciating Jedi.

Jandalf continued to poke at it-- surprisingly futilely, considering that pressure cooked meat USUALLY is quite tender. Meh, don't mind me, I cook too much. She peered inquisitively at Shadow. "Are you okay?" Shadow's face was slightly red, and her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying. Well, if you read the last part you will realize that she had been crying, but Jandalf didn't know that she was.

"No!" she screamed back at Jandalf. She refused to meet the Jedi's eyes.

"Ah. Right." Strangely, Jandalf did not continue to pester her, surprising both the narrator and Shadow by this breaking of habit. She returned her attention to the strangely badly cooked beef, and Shadow vowed to personally see about whoever cooked that's salary docking.

"That is NOT Canada beef." Obi-Wan glowered at the beef.

"Darn right, it ain't." Jandalf strangely used improper grammer at this moment, and caused the narrator to mutter about that.

Shadow rolled her eyes. "It's not icky, and it's not Canadian, no... must... strangle... cook..."

"I only eat Canadian beef. Have to support my own economy, and all that." For the readers information, Jandalf and Tiana are both Canadians.

"Well, don't eat then." Shadow had no qualms about eating beef from the USA, though she rathered Canadian beef. She didn't always support her country in everything.

"Fine, I'll have chicken then." Jandalf stood up, and wandered off to the Thai booth. "Mmm, curry."

Obi-Wan winced. "Oh, dear. I'd better request some Kleenxes. You know what happens when one eats too much Thai food..."

Shadow glared at the two for a while as he said this. When Obi-Wan finished, she sighed. "Oh... just... GO! Okay?!" She clenched her teeth, and tightened her fist.

"What?"

"LEAVE! Just... GO!"

"I can't even get a decent box of..." Obi-Wan stared at her strangely. "Shadow?"

Shadow motioned at Jandalf, and back at Obi-Wan. "Take her," she said, spelling it out, "and get off this ship."

Obi-Wan blinked.

Shadow muttered that she'd probably be killed, but who cared anyhow.

"Wha... what?" Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, and stared at her. "This is a trap, isn't it?"

"Leave. This. Ship. And. Don't. Come. Back," Shadow spelt out. "It's not a trap, just GO!"

Obi-Wan stumbled backwards, and fell over, landing on top of Jandalf, and her Thai food.

"Go to Coruscant if you will, and I will meet you there," Shadow said, her tone suddenly softening. But Shadow took over her voice again. "Just... GO! Find your apprentice, and LEAVE!"

"You clumsy..." Jandalf muttered. "You landed on my Thai food!" She looked at Shadow strangely. "What's gotten into you, Shadow?"

As she attempted to pick Obi-Wan from her food, and find what was left of it, Shadow replied almost angrily, and yet softly. "You, that's what. You and... and the past."

"Ah. I thought as much." Jandalf helped Obi-Wan to his feet, the latter of which was covered in Thai food. "Well, in that case, perhaps you should come along as well. I doubt your master's going to be very pleased."

Shadow shook her head. "No. I cannot leave. Not yet."

"Oh?" asked Obi-Wan, slightly confused. "Why not?"

She paused, thought over the answer-- to tell the whole truth would mean her death-- whether by Vader or Jandalf though, she wasn't sure. "I have some research to do," she finally settled upon.

"Really. Research?" Jandalf gave her another one of those looks, which you would be quite familiar with if you could see either her or Shadow-- they used those looks quite often. "Might I inquire of what sort?"

"About a certain plot bunny that changed everything." Shadow's expression was slightly more than distant as she spoke, and considered what would happen if this worked... or if it failed. And what about Lara'li...?

It would be crucial to your health to forget that she even existed... her and that Jethine girl! she reminded herself.

Jandalf muttered something about evil plot bunnies.

"What is it this time? Not another Ring, I hope?" asked Obi-Wan. He had read Lord of the Rings several times, and was quite conscious of the fact that Shadow was acting very much like an evil version of one of the characters.

"No, it's not a ring," Shadow muttered. "Now GO, before I'm in worse trouble as it is!!! Just... go to Coruscant if you'll actually trust me--" Shadow was very edgy about the whole trust thing, and becomes clear a lot later... she rarely trusts people because she's been betrayed a few too many times. "I will meet you there."

Jandalf grabbed Obi-Wan and dragged him off, calling over her shoulder as they went, "We'll be there..."

Shadow sat down, and sighed, tracing a random seeming pattern on the table before her as she watched them leave. Well, it actually wasn't random, as she noticed when she glanced down at it a moment later...

It was in the Terran Alphabet.... and read two words.

Find Lara'li.