Last time: Viran and Oppie caught up for the first time since Vestora.

Now: Sasha and Oppie talk.

Chapter 3- Brother and Sister

The distant sound of beeping woke Sasha from her deep slumber. Her body felt heavy and almost numb as if it hadn't moved in days from this one spot. Slowly peeling her crusted over eyes open, Sasha found herself laying on her left side, staring at the empty bed before her. Wait, how did she get into a bed? Suddenly, it all flowed back to her. She remembered Viran urging her to rest and Kitsu looking at her injured shoulder. After that, she had no memory. She must have just passed out from exhaustion. She huffed, she was going to get them for that later.

With a groan, Sasha rolled onto her back, her stiff body moving sluggishly. Once on her back, she winced slightly at her shoulder, but the pain faded quickly.

"Hey Sash." Oppie's voice rang out from the bed across the room from her, down from her feet. He said it through a mouthful of food, and had three dirty plates stacked on the tray next to him, and another plate with another sandwich on it on the other tray. "Hungry?" He asked.

Sasha chuckled as she slowly moved into a sitting position. She shook her head as she rubbed her neck with her fingers.

"I'm alright. Thanks," Sasha said, startled by how cracked and dry her voice sounded. How long was she out for? She wondered.

"Okay." Oppie ravenously tore a chunk out of his sandwich and kept chewing.

"How are you feeling?" Sasha asked as she moved her hand to her shoulder, gently massaging at it. "I think I still need to reset your collarbone."

"Hunphgry," He said around a mouthful of food. He swallowed, "And no, they took care of the collarbone." He said with a grimace.

"Wait when did they do that?" Sasha asked stopping her massaging movements. "Was I really that tired? Cause I'm sure that I would have heard you as they reset it."

"Viran and I thought it was best they do it in another room so you could get more sleep. He said you hadn't slept in three days, on top of all the energy you used in the uh… well everything." Oppie replied. "Truth be told I think if you had done it it wouldn't have hurt so much." He cast a sidelong glance at the door that led out to the hallways and the house beyond.

Sasha dropped her hand with a sigh and lowered her chin. She then threw the thin blanket off and dangled her legs over the side, not looking in his direction.

"Yeah, what he said was true, but I just couldn't fall asleep those nights. My mind was racing with nervous energy. And then saving you and Kyr on top of it. I couldn't stop until I knew you both were okay," Sasha said with a groan. "I guess Viran and Kitsu managed to get me to rest though. Ugh… and I still had so much to do." She rubbed her eyes, removing the crust from them.

"You did enough, Sasha, you do more than enough. We're all safe, there are others to help you, and you need to make sure not to run yourself ragged till you're in the same state we are." Oppie said with a slight smile. "And thank you for," He paused, "everything, for saving me, for saving Kyr, for taking care of us. And for finding me, and staying with me all those… months." He said.

Sasha looked up at him. She felt a smile appear as she breathed out before pushing herself off the bed. "I was just so worried about both of you. And even though you were both back, you were gone for so long and Kyr almost died. I just… I guess my instincts took over to take care of everyone," she said as she moved over to his bed. She then sunk down onto the stool beside the bed. "And I will always be there for you guys. For you, Kyr, and Viran. You guys are my family. My brothers. My friends. And you all have looked out for me. I just needed to return the favor."

"Yeah, that's what family does, I guess." Oppie said with a smirk. "I guess Jedi aren't supposed to think that way, but Viran and I both noted that we ended up kind of disregarding that when I talked to him earlier."

"Viran was here earlier?" Sasha asked with a slight blush. "What all did you… talk about?" She felt a twist in her stomach as she felt anxious about whether or not Oppie knew about the two of them.

He regarded her for a split second with a raised eyebrow. "Just, how things had been, you know. Guy stuff. He told me about several of the temples you visited, things like that." He didn't feel like revealing the more heartfelt moments of their talk as it had started out.

Sasha nodded. "I'm glad you guys were able to catch up. I know you haven't talked since last time we were on Artemis. And I know we have sort of talked through the Force, but it's definitely good to see you face to face in the real world again." She then lowered her gaze. "But it's still been hard without you here, Op. I… we've missed you so much." For the first time in months, Sasha felt all of the emotions towards Oppie's apparent death and disappearance hit her like a shuttle.

"I missed you guys too." He replied, feeling a little choked up. "I know for me it felt like forever but from my side of things it was like you and I were talking every hour or so. I know you guys had a much more difficult time."

She nodded and was silent for a moment before she spoke up again. "Op, every night for a month I had these awful nightmares of that day that stayed with me until I heard your voice again in my head. And everyday that I talked with you felt like you were still here with us. But that month… blast it, Op." Sasha felt her emotions swirl. "That month tore me apart. How could you just leave us?" She dropped her head as she felt tears threaten.

He looked at her and blinked, not sure what to say. "I'm more sorry than you can ever know Sasha, please accept my apology. I never meant to leave you guys, but I had to make sure you were safe, I had to get… him away from you. I'm sorry." He said, contritely as his head fell to his chest, not able to look at her.

That did it. That broke Sasha. Tears escaped her eyes as she laid her head on the edge of his bed. She gripped at her hair as she shook from the sobs.

"We could have helped you. I understand why you did it," Sasha said through gritted teeth. "But it felt like a hole was stabbed through our chests. My chest… as we lost our best friend, our brother, our mentor. That kind of pain… I thought I was over it. I thought I would be thrilled to have you back and I am…" She paused. "Then why do I feel so angry?" She whimpered.

Oppie was reminded of those dark days after order 66, Sasha's nightmares when she was so little, and she would cry like this. He reached out and gave her a hug as best he could given the various bandages that kept him from moving properly. "I just knew I couldn't lose my little brother and my little sister." He said, soothingly.

Sasha was startled by the hug, but then collapsed against him as she continued to cry. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry." She apologized into his shirt.

"You saved all of us, you don't have anything to be sorry about." He replied quietly. "It's okay."

Sasha remained silent for the next few moments as she continued to let the tears flow. Once she was calm enough, she pulled away and wiped her face.

"Why am I like this?" Sasha mumbled.

"Because you care, Sasha." Oppie replied quietly. "So many people don't, and the Jedi order tried to keep us from doing so, but you care about the people around you, and that makes you stronger for it, not weaker. All of us are stronger for it."

Sasha looked up at him. She was at a loss for words. She simply nodded before a chuckle came up and escaped her lips.

"You always know what to say," Sasha chuckled lightly. "You and Viran."

"Yeah." He was quiet for a little while. "I also wanted to apologize about Kyr, and my family. Viran and I spoke about that, but I owe you an apology for that too. I just." He paused. "When Kyr found me, I didn't know how to tell you guys, and I didn't want to put you guys in danger." He said. "I couldn't lose that family, and then you guys."

"I know why you decided what you did," Sasha said with a nod. "And Kyr has been nothing but kind to us. He reminds me a little bit of you." She lowered her gaze for a second before looking back up to him. "The first time we saw his face was quite a shock. I thought I was seeing ghosts for a moment and thought it was some cruel joke. But over time, I grew accustomed to him and was able to tell the difference. But when we brought you back and we saw Kyr dying… it felt like Chikara all over again. I wasn't going to lose either of you. I couldn't." She mumbled the last part.

Oppie glanced up at the still sealed intensive care door, not sure at all how Kyr was doing. "Viran said you saved his life, that's all that matters. Now we can be a slightly bigger and stranger," he considered his brother for a moment, "much stranger family." He said, trying to get a laugh out of her.

It worked. A laugh broke out of Sasha. She brought her hands to her mouth to cover it, but it didn't work. Her giggles were just too powerful for her own good. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed this much with Oppie.

"Yeah, very strange indeed," Sasha chuckled as she calmed.

"What's weird is you guys know him better than I do." Oppie said with a frown. "I only talked with him that one time, and then that little bit on Artemis. It sounds like you guys got pretty close."

Sasha felt herself frown. "It's just we knew you trusted him. And he helped us. But you should talk with him." She then turned her gaze to the door. "When he wakes that is." She looked back at Oppie.

"Yeah, I definitely will. He saved my life on Chikara, indirectly." Oppie considered. Then he started looking around. "Where's the heart piece?" He asked, bringing his hand to his chest, and grimacing at the sudden movement.

"You mean the piece of beskar you had around your neck?" Sasha asked as she remembered it. "It's with your belongings on the shelf. Here I'll grab it." Sasha moved from the stool and came around to the shelf. She grabbed the heart piece from where it lay on top of his tunic. She held it for a second in her hands before turning to Oppie. She held it out to him. "Where did you get this anyway?" She asked.

"Kyr gave it to me, on Artemis." He said, looping it over his head and holding it up.

"What is it?" Sasha asked curiously. "It looks like it belongs to a set of armor."

"I guess it kind of does." He said, distantly. "My mom wanted me to have it. It was what reflected Dracul's attack against me. It saved my life." He said, quietly.

"That's what that was," Sasha remembered out loud. "And that's what Kyr meant. The woman that loved you. Your mother. It all makes sense now. She must have been a wonderful person."

"Yeah." He said, running his thumb over the miniature plate of armor.

Sasha then thought for a moment. "Hold on." Sasha moved back over to the bed and found the lightsaber lying next to the pillow. Sasha grabbed it and walked back over to Oppie. Once she was back by his bedside, she held the saber hilt out to him. "Here. This belongs to you."

Oppie looked at the hilt. "You found it? Have you been using it these past months?"

Sasha nodded. "Yeah, I stole it back from Cien and used it to fight her. Then after you disappeared, I took good care of it for you until you would return. It has come in handy a number of times, but it belongs to you."

"Sasha, I think you should keep it." He said, "you never got a chance to pick your kyber crystal on that trip, and this was my masters. I think it's only fitting you should inherit this, just like I did from my master - maybe this crystal picked you. The same way as those picked me." He nodded towards the neat pile of his belongings, where his two sabers from his great grand uncle lay.

Sasha glanced at his new sabers before looking back down at the one she still held in her hands. She then raised her head to look at Oppie.

"Oppie, I… Thank you," Sasha said with a sweet smile as she closed her hands around the hilt. He was right. This saber felt like it belonged with her. Plus she had been using it so much that it had become like an extension of herself.

"You kind of remind me of Master Redika sometimes, I think it suits you, more than it did me." He said with a smile. "Now, who is Cien?" He asked, not sure he had heard that name before.

Sasha chuckled for a moment as she realized that she had become so accustomed to referring to that Sith by her real name that she had forgotten that Op never even knew what her name was. Her smile disappeared as she thought about that witch. "That's right. You never met her fully. She was the Sith who attacked us on Vestora. The one who attacked my mind. I was fighting her on Chikara and she was the one Viran was facing in the cavern when you came back."

"Oh." Oppie took on a distant look. "Did she die?" He asked.

"I don't know," Sasha admitted. "But right now, I don't care. You're back and the family is back together. That's what I care about most at this moment. So right now, I am not worried about her." Suddenly, her stomach growled loudly. "But um… what I am worried about is that last sandwich. Are you gonna eat that?"

"No, go right ahead." He said, handing the plate over.

Sasha chuckled as she took the plate and resumed her seat on the stool next to him.

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