Author's Beginning Notes: For the majority of this fic, it will be in the POV of Erik, but there will be times when it will shift to other characters, like it first did in the prologue with Nadir, and in this chapter with Carth Onasi. Also, it should probably be noted that it has been difficult for me to see the ALW Phantom of the Opera musical on the stage, although I have seen the 2004/2005 movie with Gerard Butler, and that's what got me into the phandom in the first place; after the movie, I tracked down Gaston Leroux's original book at the library, eventually bought my own copy, and then I borrowed Susan Kay's Phantom too. (I really want to buy that book now, I adore it... Anyone here have any shopping suggestions for me?) Shootingstar/Merlyn-Maiden, I couldn't understand the web address for the forum you specified to me. Would you please write it more clearly next time? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this latest installment, and please remember to leave a review; feedback is always appreciated.

Summary: (AU SW: Knights of the Old Republic/POTO crossover) The Force has mysteriously bonded Erik with the Jedi Bastila, causing a chain of events that will shake the very foundations of the galaxy far, far way 4,000 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Phantom of the Opera or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a.k.a. KOTOR.

Chapter 2

As Luck Would Have It

Carth groaned as he rubbed his aching head, feeling for how many bruises there were, his short brown hair tickling his fingers. Instinctively, he began moving his legs, starting to untangle himself from his fellow survivor as he began rubbing his jaw, his scraggly beard barely registering with his senses. Carth heard a metallic clank once he was fully free of the boy, and his eyes snapped in the noise's direction, finding just a gloved hand lying on the pod's floor, and he blinked rapidly in bewilderment, wondering if it was too far a stretch to wonder if that body part had made the noise. The old soldier hesitantly reached for the boy's hand, seeking to confirm a foreboding theory developing in his mind; gently, he pushed the dark glove up the wrist, and to his revulsion found his theory correct, for the boy did possess a cybernetic replacement, its cold metallic surface colored a silvery gray. Despite his care, through the soldier's inspection of the boy's hand, its corresponding arm bumped against the wall, making another clanking sound. No, thought Onasi with wide eyes as he almost reverently pushed the glove back into place, then stretched his hand out to feel the rest of the arm, his fingers sensing beneath their skin solid hardness that no human flesh possessed. Damn, his entire right arm's mechanical, marveled Carth as he shoved back his curiosity for another time, and went to shake his comrade awake, cursing once he spotted the massive well of blood pouring forth from the boy's forehead, staining his white mask.

With experienced ease and efficient speed, Carth took out a miniature first-aid kit and immediately pulled out a roll of bandages, beginning to wrap the boy's forehead after he had removed the mask, which had been in the way. The man was fully aware that he just had to give a quick treatment of the injury and stop the bleeding, for time was not being friendly; the escape pod could only have landed in the Upper City of Taris, a prime spot for people, and to even be lucky, they would have had to landed in an area remote enough so that crowds would only enclose them in a matter of minutes; crowds were only a problem because of the damn Sith fleet, who would be hounding the planet for Bastila, meaning any escape pods that landed. A hiding spot was called for in this situation, somewhere to rest and plan...

The old soldier hefted the boy atop his shoulder, grunting a little from the mechanical arm's weight; he picked up the mask as an afterthought, and began easing his way out of the pod, tenderly checking himself for any broken bones, and Carth was surprised to find himself relatively well off after the crash, only possessing the obligatory bruises. Once out of the pod, he broke out into a frenzied run through the crash's residual smoke, taking a lungful of fresh air once away from the whispery substance, and a gut feeling commanded him to simply run to the building straight ahead; its doors automatically opened as his presence neared, and the soldier burst inside the structure, relieved and shocked to find the halls empty. A door down the hall with tell-tale scorch marks and scratches and stains--clearly abandoned--beckoned to Carth, and he made a beeline for it. The man stifled a curse once he found it locked, but the defenses of its security lock were simple enough so that even he could hack into it and bypass the lock. The door opened as quickly as other doors he had used before, but creaked loudly as it did so. Nevertheless, Carth raced in with his comrade in tow, and immediately shut the entrance behind him, locking it up once more.

Spotting a nearby bed, the old soldier gently placed the boy atop its blankets, and began a thorough check-up of him. Through the cloak, he could see his comrade's left shoulder looked a little strange, and looking at it more closely, Carth was relieved to find it only dislocated, and completely composed of flesh; the man tightly gripped the boy, and popped his shoulder back into place, surprised to find no reaction from his comrade; he had expected the boy to snap awake...no, his name was Erik. Had to be, the soldier thought, for there had been no other 14-year-olds on the Endar Spire. In fact, there had been no other recruits beside Leroux for the Endar Spire's crew, and the Jedi had been the ones requesting for him the most... Carth shook his head of those suspicious thoughts, swearing to switch to his typical paranoia once the boy was better. The soldier treated a blaster wound on the boy's flesh arm, but other than that and the ex-dislocated shoulder, there was nothing else afflicting Erik but bruises, and of course that head wound, and upon reflection, Carth realized it was enough to keep him knocked out for a fair amount of days.

Rising from his kneeled position on the floor by Erik's bed, knowing there was not much more treatment he could do for the boy at the moment, the soldier picked up the mask he had placed at the foot of the bed and went to a nearby sink, beginning to wash away the blood stains. Oddly enough, the process reminded him of washing dishes. In merely a matter of mintues, the mask was clear and a pure shade of white again, although considerably wet; Carth used a towel hanging on a hook a little ways above on the wall to dry the mask, and for a moment he was tempted to whistle a tune. Once done with that chore that had done its job in soothing his rattled nerves, the man went back to the bed to return the mask to the boy's face, and paused, his eyes transfixed on the facial disfigurement. And here I thought the kid was just being eccentric, or it was some sort of alien custom he picked up in his travels, thought Carth as he finally realized why Erik wore the mask.

The soldier did not wish to go into a full examination of the boy's face, thinking it way too much of a violation and rather unecessary, so the still moment was broken when he gently set the mask against Erik's face, and the man could not help but marvel at how much better he looked with it, how well it suited him. A shaft of moonlight struck Carth's bearded face, and he thought, nightime, that's why we've been so damn lucky with crowds and empty halls. For a few seconds he gazed at the slice of moon he could see through the window, then went forward and closed the gap showing the outside of Taris.

Author's Ending Notes: I believe my characterization of Carth has started well enough... A special thank-you to hikari-no-tsubasa, the author of the SW/POTO fic, Black Diamond, that I had mentioned in the notes of the prologue earlier; it's nice to know that I started the story well enough, for I had some worries over its beginning, and to know that so far the tale is well-rooted in the SW world. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please remember to leave a review.