Vader's Palace

The Time Lord felt the darkness pulsing. Every shadow hissed, walls branded with cruelty. So much lifeforce, extinguished with a hatred seen in only one creature before… but this wasn't their kind of place.

There were stairs.

Rey led the way, seemingly knowing where to go. Nothing but jagged hallways cut off by flows of lava. The sonic specs showed the interior structure, it helped avoid traps. Abrupt pits that led to unwanted molten baths, turrets that appeared at various angles that promised being shredded by blaster fire, and triggers that could potentially seal off rooms from oxygen.

The Time Lord marveled at her comrade's curious talent for evading death. Being able to jump with surreal speed, block multiple laser blasts, but the trick where she managed to stop a stone wall from slamming shut made the Time Lord decide things were quite odd with her new ally.

"Answer me this," the Doctor pulled out a piece of paper in a holder. "What… do you see this says about me?"

Rey leaned in, tilting her head about.

"…Um, is it supposed to be blank?"

The Doctor snapped the holder shut.

"Knew it," she said while putting her tool away. "Takes a pretty powerful psychic to counter psychic paper. And you are Thick with it."

"Psy-what? I'm sorry?"

"Psychic," the Doctor said. "You know, move objects with the mind, read thoughts, bend all the good silverware, that kind of thing. Do you not have a word for that here?"

"It's… called the Force."

"Really, never heard of it."

The young woman looked like the Doctor had grown two heads to match her hearts.

"It's the lifeforce of the galaxy."

"Nope, no clue, travel quite a bit, barely hear about things like that."

"People have called it that for Millenia."

"I travel really quickly, hardly hear a word outside my own thoughts."

It was clear that this universe had its own principles and the Time Lord decided to not twist reality by questioning intergalactic physics, again. With unfortunate opportunity, Rey froze up as if some horrific darkness dug into her heart. The Doctor felt it in both hers. They decided to follow it, perhaps their first real clue to what lay in shadows.

They entered a chamber that seemed carved in cruelty. Rey's eyes were fixed on the rows of lightsabers like her own, the centers destroyed. On the opposite wall were shackles with deep burned slashes, they looked… dragged along where bodies would be placed. No one endured a clean death.

Rey's head hung low, the greater devastation of what this room implied stabbed at both hearts.

"Do you know who did all of this? Is it the person you're trying to stop?"

"What do you m—"

"If words were enough, there wouldn't be enemies and you wouldn't be here."

No need to say how enemies are often born from words…

The Doctor wasn't fond of taking advantage when people were vulnerable, but this realm was too odd to continue without knowledge. Listening to Rey helped fill in parts of the dark puzzle surrounding them.

"There was a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker, a war hero. He became corrupted by a hunger for power, selfish drive disguised in an alleged selfless desire to hold onto loved ones. Pain and anger twisted him into a monster, they called him Darth Vader. This was his palace, the spot where all sense of soul burned away."

"I now fight his grandson, calls himself Kylo Ren. He tears apart anything good within him in a vain attempt to be greater than Vader. He would burn the galaxy to prove himself strongest among ashes."

"I had friend like that once," the Doctor mused. "She had been horrid to many people. Fighting the past got her killed."

Those word casted a shadow on Rey's face, dread perhaps that Kylo would suffer a similar fate.

"What are you trying to find, Rey?"

The Jedi's eyes grew hard.

"A voice in the darkness, to find out how to drag someone to the light."

Turning her head as if hearing something the Doctor couldn't, Rey stated down one of the older paths in the palace. Barely taking a step caused surging rage to boil across her being. With several breaths, the demons were held at bay. But they won't stop, she realizes, they to break free and drink in raw hatred.

It cannot be halted, she realized.

…but perhaps it can be directed.

Catching up with Rey wasn't difficult. Ashen dust had built up to the point that boot prints were practically signatures. The trail was steady, not rushed or hesitant. Perhaps being a 'Jedi' demanded a sense of self where emotions could not blind goals or cripple resolve. Not really the Doctor's style, a hammer in a monk's hand is just more patient looking for nails. Perhaps that's what led to someone becoming like this Vader. A sudden hiss echoed from the walls at the name. No more words that start with V then, the Time Lord had a feeling this strategy would prove effective in the immediate future.

Steel abruptly replaced stone after several steps. The Doctor's boots echoed with a hollow crunch from coated ashes. Sonic specs picked up frequencies dulled from decades of nonexistent use. The curious thing was that none of mechanical commands for the machines below matched the torturous methodology above. It was medical equipment.

Even abandoned, the coldness of this space made it clear no love had been used in its design. More likely, a persistence of pain.

The stairs led to a bridge where lava flowed down on one side. At the other end was the doors to the medical bay. Rey was nowhere to be seen but the specs highlighted how the door had been rigged open. Clearly this Jedi was talented in getting places before using a lightsaber.

Approaching with caution, the Doctor's hearts pumped adrenaline, getting her ready for the slightest hint of trouble. Passing the doorway, everything became colder. Information started to list various medications, mechanical fluids, and decimated droids who appeared to be used for sealing metal to flesh.

A hospitals worth of supplies, yet one 'bed'.

It resembled the jaws of some massive black-toothed beast snapping down when used. Experience with cybernetic nightmares helped show similar applications but considering how extensive the applications, what kind of man could endure so much.

"So, this is where Vader slept."

The Doctor noticed the Jedi standing on the opposite side of the unit. Coming around to her side, it was easier to notice the strain of pain on Rey's face. A hand hovered over the metal shell.

"Making a personal bet with yourself or something?" The Doctor came to stand beside Rey, whose eyes were fixed on the machine.

"This is it," Rey spoke so softly it was barely a whisper. "Right here, if I touch this spot, the source of his pain… I can glimpse deeper into the darkness than ever before. But… I don't know if I'll survive the sight."

The Time Lord could almost imagine the shadows in the dead room deepen. This was where her destination had been all along. While the evil residing here did not resemble… her target, it did no one any good face such cruelty alone.

"Alright then," the Doctor placed her hand besides Rey's. "Count me in. We'll channel it together."

The young Jedi looked at the Doctor with deep dread.

"You don't know what you're offering."

"Well sure, I am may not be one with the Force, but I've picked up some tricks. I think we can handle the strain as a team. Ready when you are."

Rey looked like she wanted to argue it further, yet something in the Time Lord's manner helped ease the concern.

"Together then." She said with a sigh.

The two women nodded before pressing down on the container.