A/N: Yes, I originally intended this to be a one-shot, but I'm addicted to this pairing ;-) I'll get onto The Kiss (you know, that one) in the next chapter, but I reserve the right to change or alter lines such as "Shut up and kiss me, you babbling fool!" I know cheesy dialogue is part of the fun of Star Wars, but there are limits.

The three paths stretched ahead into the depths of the Shadowlands, each of them looking equally dark, tortuous and unwelcoming. Jacob looked from one to the other, his heart gradually sinking. "Don't you have any idea where this place is, Jolee?"

The old man shook his head apologetically. "All Freyyr told me was that the creature's lair is somewhere south of here. He wasn't going to risk the search alone, and neither was I."

Decision time. Jacob cast an eye over the party: two soldiers, one combat droid and four Jedi (presuming Jolee really was a Jedi). "Right," he announced, "I think we should split up."

There were murmurs of disapproval. "Are you crazy?" demanded Carth. "It's pitch dark down here and the place is crawling with vermin. Ever hear of safety in numbers?"

"Scared of the dark, are you?" scoffed Canderous. His tone was more jesting than hostile, but Jacob was determined to nip any potential conflict in the bud before it started.

"Knock it off, you two," he said sharply. "We'll have one Jedi per group: that should be enough." Hastily he scanned the party again, trying to decide which combinations would cause the least friction. "OK, Jolee... you take Canderous and HK, Juhani can take Carth, and I'll go with Bastila. The ones who get there first can use their communicators to contact the others. Everyone OK with that?"

The others nodded in reluctant agreement. "Fine, let's make a start."

They set off, Bastila and Jacob taking the leftmost path. The Lower Shadowlands were even darker and murkier than the upper levels, and almost the only light was that of their sabers; this, combined with the thin mist that shrouded everything around them, made it slow going. For several minutes they walked in silence, tensing a little each time they heard a low growl in the distance or the frantic chatter of a tach.

Bastila had spoken very little since they had set off, and Jacob got the feeling that she was upset about something. She replied curtly to the few remarks he addressed to her, before relapsing into a pointed silence. "What's the matter?" he asked eventually.

Instead of replying, she only sighed. Finally, in a low voice, she said: "Listen, I admire you for trying to help the Wookiees. I'd like to see them freed as much as you would, you know that. "But this 'Bacca's Blade' they speak of..." She gestured helplessly. "It could be anywhere down here – it could take us days or weeks to find it. We don't have the time for this, Jacob."

"We've got time," he said evenly. "We already have the Star Map."

"Yes – which is why we should be moving on to the next planet rather than wasting further time here." Her voice rose slightly. "Every day we waste could mean another defeat for the Republic, and another chance for Malak to discover our whereabouts. I don't think you realise quite how serious our situation really is!"

"And do you suggest we just abandon Zaalbar here?" he demanded. This silenced her for a moment, and he pressed his advantage. "You may not have been there, but he saved our lives quite a few times on Taris. I'm not leaving him here as a prisoner, and I'm sure as hell not going to kill Freyyr, so we've no other choice. Understand?"

Bastila stared at him in exasperation. "You're always so bloody certain you're right, aren't you?" She gave him a withering look before turning and stomping off, leaving him to follow behind. "Sometimes you can be just like – "

She stopped abruptly. Both of them had felt the sudden disturbance in the Force as they rounded the corner, and in case there was any doubt, the sight of several rotting Wookiee corpses in the clearing ahead confirmed that they had found what they were looking for. "It's here," she whispered.

He nodded and took out his communicator. "Carth? You'd better come over here. I think we've found – "

The hideous growl drowned out the rest of his sentence. He and Bastila whirled round as the ground behind them began to shake with the footsteps of something very, very large and heavy. What they saw there was like something out of a child's worst nightmare: an enormous beast, the size of a baby rancor, with a gaping maw full of jagged teeth and two massive claws almost as big as its head. It was heading straight for them, pounding across the forest floor at a rate that had to be seen to be believed.

Jacob had no time to think. Instinctively he hurled his saber at the creature's chest, causing it to stagger back and roar with anger, before seizing Bastila and shoving her aside with such violence that she tumbled over into the wet grass. Then, as the monster bore down on him, he spun around and blasted it with as much Force energy as he could muster – which, to his utter horror, had no effect. The creature lunged forward with its claws raised high above its head, ready for the kill...

After that everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Jacob felt the tips of the huge claws tear into his flesh as he desperately flung himself to the side, and for a second the pain was so overwhelming that it blocked out everything else. He opened his eyes to see the creature towering above him, its arm raised once again to strike the killing blow... and then Bastila's lightsaber was slicing into its neck from behind, ripping through the thick hide as if it were made of cotton. Again and again she slashed at the creature until it collapsed with a final, despairing bellow of rage, barely missing Jacob as it fell. Bastila grabbed him by the arms and pulled with all her strength, dragging him away from the beast's stinking corpse.

"Idiot!" Her voice was shaking, as were her hands. "If you hadn't thrown me aside like that – "

"Then it would have got you as well," he growled. The pain in his side was so great that he could hardly speak. Bastila saw the blood which was rapidly soaking through his tunic, and her face turned pale.

"You're hurt. Let me see." Within moments she had ripped a hole in his shredded tunic and was examining the wound, squinting to see in the dim light. "I don't think it's very deep... but it might be poisonous. Damn, I don't have an antidote kit!"

"One of the others will." She nodded and darted across to where Jacob's communicator was lying, still buzzing frantically. "Carth? Can you hear me? Jacob's been hurt. Get everyone together and bring them here, quickly."

She returned to Jacob, who was struggling to breathe. The pain was spreading now, through his chest and up to his neck, and his entire left side felt as if it was on fire. "What was that thing?" he gasped. "The Force didn't work on it..."

"It's a terentatek, a creature of the Dark Side – they're almost immune to the Force. I thought they'd all been killed during the Great Hunt!" She fumbled around for a medpac and injected several shots of kolto into his injured ribs, before tearing off her robe and wrapping it tightly around the wound as a makeshift bandage. "That should stop the bleeding soon, I hope. Now we just have to wait for the others..."

Jacob couldn't answer. A terrible numbness was slowly creeping through him, almost worse than the pain, and his vision was beginning to blur. "Bastila... I can't..."

"It's all right," she whispered. "It's all right. Use the Force; I'll help you." He felt her arms around him, and then the Force energy was flowing into him, lending him a much-needed reserve of strength. He gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate on staying conscious. Bastila was damp and shivering; he clutched her against his chest and for a minute they clung to each other, exhausted, taking what small comfort they could from the warmth of each other's arms.

"Hey! Guys, where are you?" The yells and shouts were getting closer. Bastila sat up quickly as Carth and Juhani rushed into the clearing, followed close behind by the others. They stopped short as they spotted the body of the terentatek, gaping at it in horror.

"Holy shit," panted Carth. "What the hell is that thing? What happened here?"

"We found the ritual beast. Or rather, it found us." Bastila struggled to keep her voice calm. "Could someone give me an antitoxin hypospray, please?

Canderous passed her one and she quickly injected it into Jacob's arm, praying that it wasn't too late. His muscles relaxed almost immediately, and he drew several long, shuddering breaths. Then, clearly exhausted from the attempt to fight the poison's effects, he passed out.

Bastila sank back, trembling with relief, as the others bent over Jacob's unconscious body. Canderous shot her a wry look. "So I guess your Jedi senses failed again, Princess?"

"Oh, we sensed it," she said shortly. "We just didn't expect it to leap out at us from behind."

He smirked. "Those monsters, huh? They've got no sense of fair play."

Worn out and still badly shaken, Bastila was not in the mood for humorous banter. "Oh, will you shut up – " she began, but Juhani interrupted her.

"Look. Come and look at this." She was bent over the creature's body, staring at something embedded in its hide. The others gathered round to look; slowly, as each of them realised what it was, they exchanged wordless but very meaningful glances. Now what were they supposed to do?

-----

The first sensations to filter through to Jacob's consciousness were dim light, an odd smell and a sort of soft crackling sound, which was difficult to recognise and yet strangely familiar. For a moment he lay there in confusion, staring up at the ceiling in a hazy attempt to work out where he could be. Not on the Ebon Hawk, that was for sure...

Attempting to ignore the twinges of pain coming from his left side, he raised his head a little and tried to focus on his surroundings. He was in what appeared to be some kind of small hut, with a low, rounded roof made of pitch. The bed on which he was currently lying, dressed in someone else's nightclothes and covered by a thin blanket, was almost the only furniture in the room. A box and a small table stood in one corner; a frayed-looking rug covered the floor; and across the room from him was – good gods, was that a wood fire? Well, that would certainly explain the smell.

Above the crackle of the fire, he was startled to discern the sound of quiet, regular breathing close to his arm. It was Bastila, who sat slumped against the low bed, her head resting on her arms and her face flushed with sleep. He barely had time to register her presence, however, before the door creaked open and Jolee entered with an armful of wood.

"Ah. Awake, are you?" He tossed most of the wood into the box, then took the remaining few pieces and knelt down by the fire.

With some difficulty, Jacob raised himself onto his elbows to watch the old man. "Is this your house?" he murmured groggily.

"Got it in one." Jolee continued to poke at the fire, his back turned to Jacob. "And that would be my bed you're lying in, too. Some nerve you kids have, expecting an old man like me to sleep on the floor..."

Jacob was used to Jolee's grumbling by now, and took no notice of it. "Where are the others?" he asked, still a little confused.

"Back at the ship, of course. They didn't fancy carrying you all the way back with them." Jolee brushed off his hands, then stood up and turned to face the younger man. "But this young lady –" he indicated Bastila – "insisted on staying with you. Stubborn as a bantha, that one."

Suddenly the memory hit. "The terentatek –" Jacob broke off and shuddered slightly, remembering the massive arm swiping down at him and the screaming pain as its claws ripped into his flesh. "She saved my life..."

"So she did." Jolee glanced down at her again, shaking his head. "Now who'd have thought there would be a terentatek here, of all places? Always thought the only ones left were on Korriban."

"Let's hope there aren't any more of them," Jacob muttered. The burning feeling in his side was growing steadily worse, and he longed for another shot of kolto. Jolee saw the young man wince as he leaned back against the pillow, and realised that he was in considerable pain.

"Wait a minute. I'll get you something that'll ease the pain a little." He went back into the other room, and soon Jacob heard him opening and shutting cupboards and moving things around. In a couple of minutes he was back, carrying a mug filled with some sort of dark green liquid. "Here you go."

Whatever it was, it looked and smelled foul. Jacob screwed up his face as the old Jedi held out the mug to him. "No thanks, Jolee – I've already been poisoned once today."

"Oh, don't be such a baby." Jolee glared at him in annoyance. "Just drink it down, you ungrateful young monkey-lizard. If it's good enough for me and the Wookiees, it's good enough for you."

Realising that he wasn't going to take no for an answer, Jacob took the mug and gulped down the evil-looking liquid as quickly as possible. He grimaced at the taste and handed the mug back to Jolee, who nodded approvingly. "Not so bad, was it? Soon have you back on your feet. Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep now, and I think you should as well." He turned to leave the room, pulling the door to as he went. "Have a good night."

Rather to Jacob's surprise, within a few minutes he was indeed feeling a good deal better. He did not fall asleep, however, but found his gaze drawn to Bastila, who was still fast asleep by the side of his bed. Just to have her there with him was somehow comforting; he could feel her presence through the Force, calm and tranquil, free from the turbulent passions he so often sensed in her when she was awake.

She looked so young and fragile while she slept, for all her strength in the Force. Could this be the woman who, only a few hours ago, had hacked apart a monster twice her size? He reached out and gently touched her face, stroking his thumb lightly along her hairline, and suddenly he was gripped by a powerful ache of longing and tenderness. Memories from earlier in the evening flooded over him, so vivid that he could almost feel the confused sensations of those few moments of when they had held each other. The warmth of her body against his, the low, soothing murmur of her voice, her strength and courage pouring into him through their bond...

All of a sudden he felt her stir slightly under his touch, jolting him out of his daydream. Her eyelids flickered, and for a second she looked as if she were about to wake up. "Please don't do that, Revan," she murmured, shifting position a little before settling down once more.

Revan?

Jacob sat bolt upright. "Bastila." He shook her by the shoulder, rather more roughly than he would have done under normal circumstances. "Bastila, wake up!"

"Mmm?" She raised sleepy, bewildered eyes to his. "Oh, Jacob. What is it? Are you all right?" Suddenly she was wide awake, staring up at him in alarm.

"I'm fine," he hastily reassured her. "But just now..." He breathed in deeply, trying to remain calm. "Bastila, while you were sleeping, you called me 'Revan'."

Her face blanched. "What? I..." Just for a moment her eyes were filled with shock and a trace of fear; then, with an obvious effort, she pulled herself together. "Oh, but I – I was dreaming about him. About our confrontation on his ship. That must have been why..."

You didn't need to be a Force-user to tell that she was lying. Jacob fixed her with a cold stare, his face grim. "I'm not stupid, Bastila." He shook his head in frustration. "Why don't you stop lying to me and just tell me what went on between you and him?"

Bastila realised that further denials would be of no use. Her whole body seemed to sag, and she let out a soft, despairing groan, lowering her head onto her arms. "Where do you want me to start?" she mumbled.

"At the beginning."

"Very well." She raised her head once more and took a deep breath. "When I was about nine years old, my parents gave me to the Jedi Order for training. I didn't want to go." She spoke flatly. "I was homesick, and miserable, and I thought I'd never be as good as the others. So a few months after I arrived, I decided to run away."

"What has this – "

She held up a hand. "I didn't get very far before I ran into Revan. He was a Padawan, a few years older than me, and he made me tell him where I was going. Of course, he told me how silly I was being." Her lips twitched slightly. "But for some reason he decided to help me, and he even offered to train me to use the Force."

Jacob could hardly believe his ears. How many teenage boys, even Jedi, would go out of their way to help a nine-year-old? "That was kind of him," he remarked.

"He was kind. I adored him." She spoke with real feeling. "So he helped me with my studies for a while, and then after a few years he became a Knight and left the Academy. I didn't see him again until I was about fifteen, and, well..." A faint blush spread over her face. "I suppose I had a bit of a crush on him."

"Did you tell him?"

She looked at him as if he were mad. "Of course not! But I think he must have guessed... anyway, he soon left to fight the Mandalorians, and then I discovered my Battle Meditation. I thought I had forgotten about him..."

Jacob was beginning to see where this was heading. "But he came back, right?"

She nodded. "A few months before the end of the war... he came back to Dantooine, secretly. Somehow he had got to hear about my meditation, and..." A faint look of pain crossed her face. "He asked me to come with him and help him defeat the Mandalorians."

"But you didn't agree?"

"No. No, I couldn't. I hadn't finished my training, and besides..." Her voice sank almost to a whisper. "The war had changed him – I could tell. I was afraid, even then, that he was falling to the Dark Side."

"And what happened when you refused?"

Bastila flinched. "He..." She sank her head into her hands. "He forced me to admit that I had feelings for him, and he told me that he felt the same way. He even tried to persuade me that I could keep him from the Dark Side. When I told him I couldn't do it, he became very angry and left." She swallowed. "The only time I ever saw him again was when I faced him on board his ship, just before he was killed."

Jacob was lost for words. A confrontation like that must be painful enough under any circumstances, but when the brutal Dark Lord trying to kill you was an old friend... Suddenly he felt ashamed of himself for forcing her to talk about it, and what was more, deeply angry at Revan for treating her in that way. "He got what he deserved," he growled, suddenly hating this man who had caused her and everyone else so much distress and misery.

To his astonishment, he saw a flash of fury in her eyes. "Who are you to say that?" she snapped. "Revan was a true Knight, one of the greatest Jedi in the order. He cared about the Republic, he tried to do what he thought was right, and it destroyed him." Her voice quivered with anger. "You, of all people, have no right to judge. You should just take care that your own pride doesn't lead you down the same path."

Surprised but humbled, Jacob raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "OK, OK, I get the picture." He hesitated, knowing his next question was better left unasked, but was unable to stop himself. "Bastila, did you – "

"No. Never." She spoke sharply. "He never even kissed me, as a matter of fact. Not that it's any concern of yours."

"Did you love him, is what I was going to say," he answered quietly.

"Oh." She subsided a little, and fell silent. For a moment she stared at the ground, unable to meet his eyes; finally, without looking up, she spoke. "I'm not sure. I... cared for him very much, certainly."

"And now?"

"How could I love a Dark Lord? Besides, he's dead." When she spoke again he could hear the tremor in her voice. "Though... sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had gone with him. If – if I could really have saved him..."

A sudden wave of grief and pain flooded through to him, so powerful that he could barely contain the urge to take her in his arms and hug her. Instead he merely laid his hand on hers and squeezed it gently, as he had done once before on Tatooine. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't realise." How many times had he said that before during the past few weeks?

Bastila fought back her tears with an effort and made a valiant attempt at a smile. "No. I probably should have told you, but I've never told anyone else before now." He nodded understandingly. "And now, if you don't mind, I would prefer not to discuss it any further."

Jacob sighed. He had absolutely no doubt that every word she had spoken was true... and yet, somehow, he still got the feeling that there was something else she hadn't told him. On the other hand, how could he blame her? He had no right to demand the details of her relationship with Revan, especially when the subject was obviously so painful for her. "All right," he agreed, "I won't ask any more. Oh, and Bastila..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for what you did last night. And for staying with me."

"That's quite all right," she said softly. "And now I think we should both try and go back to sleep." He nodded, gave her hand one last squeeze, then lay back down on the pillow and rolled over so that he was facing the wall.

It took him a while to get to sleep. Even with his back turned he could still feel her eyes on him, and it made him slightly uncomfortable; besides, he was still trying to take in all of what he had just heard. How was it possible for a crew of ten members – two of whom were droids, for Force's sake – to have so many skeletons in the closet? At this rate he was half expecting T3-M4 to sidle up to him and reveal some dark, dreadful secret from the depths of his past. At least he could be thankful that he himself, despite the dubiously legal activities in which he had been engaged for most of his life, had nothing to hide...

-----

Bastila remained fully awake, long after she sensed that Jacob had fallen asleep. Whereas he had gradually calmed down enough to be able to doze off, her agitation had only increased as the night went on. It had been so, so close...

She was going to have to tell him, sooner or later. She'd lost count of the times she had almost called him 'Revan', and she'd only got out of it this time by the skin of her teeth. Eventually he was bound to figure it out for himself, or else they would run into someone who recognised him. She couldn't begin to imagine how he'd react to the knowledge that he was the former Dark Lord, let alone the discovery of what the Council had done to him – but however bad it would be coming from her, it would surely be a thousand times worse to hear such news from a random stranger.

And moreover, she hated lying to him. She had never been happy about it, even from the start, but she'd trusted the judgement of the Council and given her word to them. What she hadn't expected, however, was how deeply she would come to trust and depend on him – and, yes, care for him. For all his faults he was a good man, and a better Jedi than she was; he didn't deserve to be manipulated in this way.

She realised that she was staring at him again, and shivered. Sometimes he reminded her so much of Revan that it was almost frightening; even in his sleep he radiated power. She kept trying to distance herself from him, but at the same time she found herself drawn towards him for reasons she was powerless to comprehend. Again and again she would catch herself watching him, thinking about him, when her mind ought to be on something else entirely...

She knew very well how foolish her thoughts were, and how dangerous. She had promised herself she would never fall in love with anyone again, let alone him. But what she had felt when she saw him hurt – that sudden blind terror at the thought of losing him, as if it she was about to be ripped in two – if that wasn't love, then what was?

Gods, she had to get out of here. Just being near him was enough to prevent her from thinking clearly and rationally. She had to get a grip on herself; she had to regain control...

She stood up abruptly and walked over to retrieve her robe, which had been drying out by the fire. Quietly, careful not to wake either Jacob or Jolee, she stole out of the room and over to the front door. She opened it and crept through as noiselessly as possible; then, shutting the door behind her with equal care, she grasped her saber tightly in her hand and turned to begin the long, lonely trek back to the ship.

-----

Jolee's mysterious medicine must have done its work, as when Jacob woke the next morning, the pain had lessened considerably and he felt a lot stronger. His first instinct was to look for Bastila, but he could sense her absence before he had even opened his eyes. A heavy sigh escaped him as he gazed at the place where she had sat last night, remembering their less-than-romantic conversation. Why did he always manage to mess things up where she was concerned?

"So you've finally woken up." He looked up to see Jolee standing in the doorway. "Feeling any better?"

"Yes... Jolee, did you see where Bastila went to?"

Jolee shook his head. "Back to the ship, I should think." He gave the young man a hard stare. "There is a strong bond between the two of you, isn't there? How long have you known each other?"

"A couple of months."

Jolee looked faintly bemused, and seemed to be about to say something, when suddenly there was a loud knock on the door of the hut. "Hmph. That'll be visitors for you, I suppose," muttered the old man. He headed off to answer the door, and Jacob heard him speaking to someone outside the hut. A short time later he heard the front door slam, and within a few moments Carth was entering the bedroom with some sort of cloth package under his arm.

"Hi there." He spoke cheerfully, but there was a hint of concern in his voice. "How are you doing?"

"Not too bad. I think I can probably just about walk again now." To demonstrate, Jacob pulled aside the bedcovers and stood up with only a small amount of difficulty.

Carth looked relieved. "Good. Kolto's great stuff, isn't it?" He shook his head, almost incredulously. "Last night we all thought you were at death's door."

"You're can't get rid of me that easily, I'm afraid." They both laughed. "How are the others?"

"Fine. Mission's still sulking about not getting to go with us." Carth grinned. "I told her next time we'd use her as bait for any monsters we ran into. Talking of which..."

He laid the parcel down on the bed and began to unwrap it. Jacob leaned forward curiously as his friend carefully unwound the folds of cloth, a knot of hope and excitement forming in his stomach. Could it possibly be...?

"We found this in the terentatek's hide, after you passed out." He removed the final layer of cloth, and Jacob drew in breath sharply. There in Carth's hands, notched and stained but still unnervingly sharp, was the blade of a sword.