Author's Beginning Notes: Back to typical Erik POV for the most part here. Carth Onasi, the Endar Spire, the Jedi Bastila, the planet Taris--all are KOTOR related, and mostly everything else. (Most of this fic will be KOTOR related, with POTO being the only differing elements; in fact, this fic could be somewhat considered a novelization of KOTOR if not for the POTO characters.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story and please remember to leave a review.

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 3

Getting Down to Business

She was beautiful. She was human. She was a Jedi. She was fighting. Erik sees her curtain of relatively short, dark brown hair framing her lightly tanned face, which is engraved with an expression of cool calculation. The simple robes adorning her lithe figure glow a tint of green from her lightsaber, as it strikes a streak of crimson, clearly a Sith's weapon, although he cannot see her opponent; the boy only sees the woman, and he isn't complaining. A desperate longing seizes him, a desire to snatch a sheet of paper and begin drawing her, favorably in charcoal, charcoal's perfect to capture the chaotic energy he senses lurking beneath her mask of cool calculation, and maybe just a slash of green paint for her lightsaber. And music, yes music, he's inspired to sing and compose and play any instrument available, express the harsh notes demonstrating the granite coldness shading her luminous eyes. Erik wants so much... Then there is a shriek, and the ethereal image of the Jedi shatters into a million shards as if it were a mirror, and he feels those shards bite into his flesh, biting and biting and biting until he's crying out in agony, but his voice sounds younger, as if he were a little child again...

With all the sweat, the mask absolutely stuck to his face as Erik bolted upward like a shot, panting heavily in haggard breathes; the boy collapsed in on himself somewhat, cradling his head, trying to remember his dream, annoyed to only find fragments; the female Jedi was clear, as was her battle with the Sith, but he could not remember what had caused his heart to viciously hammer against his chest as if it wanted to burst free, he could not recall what had frightened him so.

"Erik?" The boy's head snapped up at his name, and immediately his posture straightened, so tensed up he literally ached. Despite realizing it was Carth who had spoken, who looked so pale now, his bearded face full of concern, Erik did not relax, refusing to let his guard down. Sweeping back a strand of dark hair out of his eyes, briefly brushing aginst his bandaged forehead, his golden eyes scanned the location he was currently in, although his face remained turned in Carth's direction; the room was a fair size, the ceiling remarkably high, but the overall decor shabby; the entire archictecture was grotesque, but it was efficient for a hiding spot, for that was quite obviously the identity of his location.

"Are you alright? One minute you were sleeping just fine, the next trembling and sweating and screaming like hell--"

"How long have I been out," the boy snapped, ashamed of his screams, wanting to change the subject, and of course get straight down to business. He was thankful to Carth for taking the not-so-subtle hint.

"About 4 days...your head was hurt pretty badly after we crashed on Taris," explained the old soldier as he pulled a seat closer to Erik's bed and took his place in it, exuding patience.

"Really," grunted the boy, his sarcasm too exhausted to have its usual bite, but he nevertheless reveled in Carth's frown, the way his eyes clouded over with irritation.

"Am I to assume that while I was unconscious, you took me here," Erik asked knowingly, sweeping his right arm around to indicate the shabby room, checking himself that his mechanical replacement was still in prime working order after the crash, and a wave of relief washed over him to find that it was.

"Yes, I--"

"Thank you," Erik quietly said, once again interrupting Carth. The elder man gave him a considering look, then simply nodded.

"Our current situation...isn't the greatest--"

"I figured, but our crisis is probably worse than what even I can imagine."

"--but I've been in worst," Carth finished in clipped tones, and a childish urge told Erik to scoff, but his overall maturity caused him to resist, recalling the man's battle history. Carth waited, as if expecting the boy to talk again, but Erik remained silent and busied himself with releasing his hair from its loosened tail, its rough dark tresses falling down wildly.

"...You've probably already expected that the Sith fleet would place Taris under quaratine and scour the planet for the Endar Spire's escape pods, for Bastila," the man said, his tone filled with a small tint of mocking that the boy supposed he sort of deserved. Choking down his instinct for a sarcastic response, Erik merely nodded as he re-tied his tail in a more firm hold, but the sarcasm would not be chained down.

"I suppose it would be too much to hope for that Bastila is currently out on some errand or other and will back here shortly?"

Carth sighed. "Yes, Bastila isn't here with us, but I do have some idea where she is...I've heard reports of some escape pods landing in the Under City--"

"The Under City? I'm embarassed to say, I've never visited Taris before..."

"Well, I did imagine that there were some places you hadn't traveled to yet... Taris is a world with 3 main cities, all piled on top of each other. Right now, we're in the highest level, the Upper City, also the richest."

"And I bet the cities underneath grow more poor."

"It's an easy pattern to figure out... The Lower City is below here, and then there's the Under City."

"Of course our destination would be the lowest... Would I be hoping too much again if I assumed there was a method to skip levels?"

"Afraid so." Carth and Erik both sighed, and instantly their eyes snapped toward each other, both wearing identical frowns. Well, this is a great start to an undoubtedly long partnership, the boy thought bitterly as he examined his bandages again, growling when he realized that he'd be stuck with them for a few more days, even with his freak healing factor.

"Let's go now," replied Erik in a crisp tone as he abruptly stood up, and Carth did so as well, but the boy cringed at the increased concern in the elder man's face.

"Are you sure about that? You're still--"

"My head's feeling well enough, and our situation is still dire, even if you've been in worse spots." Unwilling to waste any time on futile debate, Erik immediately turned his back on Carth without another word and went toward the only door in the room, the entrance automatically opening up as its sensors picked up his nearing presence. Back still facing Onasi, a smirk spread on the boy's face as he heard the elder man softly curse behind him, also pleased to have the sound of the soldier's following footsteps reach his ears. His smirk was wiped clean off his face as the sight of 3 Sith troopers greeted his view, although apparently their attention was riveted on an alien Duros standing a few feet ahead in the hall. The Duros was practically yelling, and the boy's ears instinctively translated the foreign tongue into the Basic language.

"This is outrageous, you've already thoroughly searched this apartment complex, and you come back here again! You...you Sith can't just do whatever you want at the expense of others!"

"We Sith will do whatever is necessary, and we always command proper respect while doing so, something you dearly lack," responded the lead Sith trooper in a bored tone as he gripped the blaster at his side. "You need to be taught a lesson." The punjab lasso snapped the man's neck before he could even pull the trigger, and the Duros just gawked at his masked savior. The remaining troopers went past their shock in seconds, lifting up their own blasters, but that was still an ample amount of time for Carth to strike them down with a few quick shots. The lead trooper with the broken neck soon joined his comrades down on the floor, once Erik had loosened his lasso's noose and pulled the weapon back by his side. The boy was otherwise oblivious to Onasi's expression, torn between agreeing with the good deed and irritated at the apparent lack of ability for lying low.

"Thank...thank you, thank you so much," the Duros said with his head bowed in gratitude, his voice unsteady, obviously shaken over his near-death experience.

"It was foolish to have been so forward in your defiance against them," the boy replied in a clipped tone as he casually kicked one of the Sith bodies, barely disturbing its limp pose.

"You are correct human; I'll keep a tighter reign on my emotions in the future... Don't worry about the bodies," spoke the Duros abruptly, and the boy's eyes widened behind the mask at the implied proposal.

"Oh no," began Erik anxiously with his glove raised to emphasize his refusal, "there's no need for you to--"

"You saved my life, and you could get in trouble for it if these bodies are found...of course there's a need," interrupted the Duros with a calm, practical look in his eyes. "I'll hide the bodies for you, and you can continue peacefully on your way." Peacefully, yeah right, the boy thought sarcastically as he tried to protest some more, but Carth's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Erik turned angrily toward him, biting back a growl as he gracefully removed the soldier's hand from his body; he didn't like being touched if he could help it...

"We really do need to be getting on our way," the man reminded in a pointed voice, a glare in his eyes. The boy matched Carth with his own glare, and the contest lasted for a few more seconds before common sense caught up with Erik, screaming about the urgency in finding Bastila. Stiffly, Erik nodded in reluctant agreement with Onasi, then turned to back to the Duros.

"Thank you, we deeply appreciate the help," Erik said solemnly as he bowed his head in return. Carth started heading off first, and the boy followed him, and once they reached the apartment complex's exit into the Upper City, he turned back one last time to wave farewell to the Duros, who returned the gesture with his own wave as he hefted one dead Sith on his shoulder. However, Carth, who had gotten out of the building before Erik, impatiently snapped his arm out through the open doorway and interrupted the boy's silent farewell as he dragged him out in an undignified manner, soon learning the hard way how temperamental his comrade was. "Why me," muttered the soldier under his breath as he rubbed his arm in the spot where Erik had punched him in, following the boy as he stalked aimlessly ahead in a bit of a huff.

Author's Ending Notes: The main cast--including Erik--in this story will be fairly large--10, I think--although it will probably take a while before they're all together. Erik won't be the only character with a backstory, but his will be...quite deep and complex. (That's about all I can say now...) Anyway, thank you for reading, and please remember to leave a review.