Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of Lucas Arts, and, as such, definitely not mine
A/N: I thought this story would be a one-shot, but the stupid thing kept haunting me while trying to write other stuff, so here's chapter two of the fic that's holding me hostage. Help!
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, One year later….
One long, hectic year had passed since Revan's capture, and it seemed like the Galaxy was no less worse off than it had been while the former Dark Lord was in power. Malak, her onetime apprentice, had picked up where she left off weeks after her supposed death, and the Republic was drenched in the blood of their soldiers.
The only place seemingly unaffected by the fires of war was the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, a peaceful center of learning for those of the Order who stayed behind when Revan led her great crusade against the Mandalorians three years ago. Never in a million years would one have thought that that was where the Dark Lady of the Sith was residing now.
Three weeks had passed since Bastila Shan was given the duty of reprogramming Revan's mind, and the young woman had yet to make any progress. Scores of datapads littered the floor of the scarcely furnished suite she shared with the former Dark Lord, as well as the toys and gadgets of a young child. Besides the equipment monitoring Revan's actions at all times, Bastila installed a small cot as well as a desk and chair to make the cell like room more livable.
Now, the young Jedi was sitting up late into the night in the uncomfortable synth-wood chair, datapad in hand and a pile at her feet.
"Hmm, what about this one, Revan? Kassandra Rahl, mercenary smuggler killed in action by the Sith while attempting to smuggle slaves to freedom." Bastila shifted to a more comfortable position in the chair as she spoke, waiting to see if the older woman would respond.
Revan glanced up from her pillow fort on the floor and grinned happily, a look of childish innocence on her face and blankness in her eyes. She burbled a few unintelligible words in Bastila's general direction and then went back to the dolls she was playing with on the floor, the younger woman already forgotten.
Bastila smiled sadly and went back to her work with new determination. She would restore Revan, if not to her old self, a new personality that allowed her to function and live in the galaxy that she had created.
When the remnants from the strike team on the Twisted Dream had returned to the Republic flagship Valor with an unconscious Revan in hand, the Jedi Council had rejoiced in the success of their gamble. They had the strongest Jedi of the age back in their hands, and there wasn't a single master who didn't believe they wouldn't be able to bring their stray lamb back into the fold. When it was revealed that Revan suffered irreparable brain damage, the Council had lost hope in what had been viewed as their last barrier against Malak's fury.
In the months that Revan's broken body spent in a bacta tank, the Jedi watched in amazement as her brain repaired itself, and she regained function where the doctors thought she would never have it again.
Unfortunately, the progress was far less than complete, and, though the neurologists saw evidence of higher function and thought processes, Revan's mind appeared to be that of a four-year-old child without the ability to speak in clear sentences. The doctors diagnosed her with Autism, a developmental disability thought to have been removed from the human genetic code eons ago, and recommended that the Jedi give her a full time keeper and therapist.
All of that had taken place a little less than a year ago, and Revan had come a long way since then. Though she still couldn't speak clearly, she could communicate well enough to get what she needed, and lived life as a child trapped in an adult's body.
A knock on the door drew Bastila out of her thoughts of the past, and she rose to her feet a moment before the door was palmed open.
"Good evening, Master Zhar." Bastila bowed to the Twi'lek master as he entered the room with a tray of food balanced in one hand.
"Good evening to you as well, Padawan Shan." The head of the Jedi medical center, and chief in Neurology and mental Force powers, replied formally. "Hello there, young Revan." He smiled down at the woman who had looked up from her toys as the door opened to their rooms, and was currently trying to negotiate a way out of her fort and to the food resting across the room.
"Hi!" she replied as she climbed over the couch pillows and half-ran to the tray bearing two sandwiches and a small bag of fruit snacks.
"Eat your sandwich first, Revan," Bastila admonished gently as she took the sugary snack from Revan's hand and slipped them in her pocket. "Once you're done- Rev, look at me, -" Revan met her eyes, a struggle for her since she first opened them. "Once you're done with your sandwich, tap me on my shoulder and I'll give you your snack, ok?" she had to prompt Revan twice more before she uttered a clear ok and sat down with her meal.
Zhar watched all of this calmly, noting Revan's actions and how Bastila handled them. "You've come a very long way with her." He observed as the two Jedi watched Revan arrange the silverware the way she wanted them before beginning to eat the healthy sandwich.
"I suppose so," Bastila replied after a moment, "but sometimes I despair of her ever being, you know, functional by herself again. All too soon, the fleet is going to need me, and what then? Who will take care of Revan the way I have, and who will she be as comfortable with?"
"You do not need to worry about any of that, now." Master Zhar said as a broad grin spread across his pink face. "Master Dorak has discovered a method of implanting a new personality into a person's mind in the library, and it appears that we will be able to perform it upon the return of Master Vandar from Dantooine in two days."
"That's," Bastila had to pause to wrap her mind around the concept. "Incredible! We don't even have to use a new personality for Revan! We make her herself again, and she will be who she once was! A defender of the republic, and our only hope."
But Zhar was already shaking his head in denial of her plans, and her excitement faded slowly. "The council has decided that we will not be bringing Revan back to life." Zhar said finally. "You will choose a personality for her, and we will give you a computer program that will help you craft the person you want her to be."
"But I want her to be herself…" Bastila whispered despondently as Zhar bowed once more and left. She stood there for awhile, turning the datapad containing the life of one Kassandra Rahl over and over in her hands as she thought about the lengths the council was going to for a puppet version of Revan, not a real person and asset to the Galaxy.
"Basi, Basi!" Revan was tugging at the sleeve of her tan robes, clean plate in hand as she said Bastila's nickname. "All done! I want to eat candy, pwease!" the sentence, one she said quite often, was one of the clearest strings of words in her tiny vocabulary.
"Ok, Rev," Bastila smiled as she pulled out the snack. "How many do you want?"
"All!" Revan replied with a child's indignation. How many candies did Bastila think she wanted?
Bastila chuckled and handed the packet to her charge before lying down on the pillow-less couch to watch as Revan retuned to her toys. It was with mixed feelings that she finally decided on the datapad she'd been reading for the better part of the night.
Revan is the only hope that we have against Malak, Bastila thought as she felt her eyes growing heavy. But why am I so reluctant to give her up, to make her whole? She smiled as she felt Revan climb onto the couch and snuggle close like the child she was. These have been some of the calmest, happiest days of my life. Were her last thoughts as she drifted to off sleep.
A/N: Autism is a real developmental condition that affects one out of every 500 (approximately) children in the States today, and millions of people throughout the world. Autism is not the same thing as mental retardation, and is very much the way I depicted it in this story. The causes and cures for Autism have yet to be developed, but support is needed to get the research underway. For more information on autism, go to www dot autism-society dot org slash site slash PageServer (http/
