Chapter 4: Bring Me To Life
For Admiral Onasi, every moment was a lifetime.
He had been sitting beside Revan for hours, watching her breathe, fearing between each rise and fall of her bandaged chest that there would not be another. Never in his life had Carth Onasi felt such a strong desire for anything.
No, that was not true, he realized. Once. Once before, as his wife lay dying in his arms those years ago, he had hoped for something that deeply. That time, his hope was left unfulfilled, and he had been left empty amidst the ruins of Telos.
Would this time be the same? Carth could not bear the pain of losing another love on this planet.
"Wake up, Revan," he whispered to her. Her face was utterly still, deeply beyond sleep. Revan's face had always been active in sleep. Carth remembered a time when he would stay awake (sometimes involuntarily, having been kicked during one of Revan's more active dreams) and watch her as she slept fitfully, trying to discern what she was dreaming of. He realized now that those were probably the dreams that caused her to leave, caused her to end up like this.
As he contemplated this, he failed to notice Revan's fingers start to twitch.
Carth was brought back to reality by a faint moan coming from Revan's pale lips. Suddenly, as though she had been merely resting, Revan sprang forward, her eyes darting around the room. She nearly became tangled in the tubes hanging around her, but she deftly moved away from them and surveyed her surroundings. Finally, she saw Carth.
"Oh…" she whispered in disbelief, "Carth…"
Revan leapt to the side of her bed, embracing Carth, her body trembling with the cold. Her forehead was like ice against Carth's mouth, and Carth could feel Revan's heart pounding to restore heat to her entire body. Revan, exhausted, let her arms go limp around Carth, whereas Carth held her tightly, a sensation both of them had been longing for constantly over the past five years.
"Revan," Carth said hoarsely, "I swear, I will never leave you again. I will never… never let you go."
Revan was too exhausted to speak, and, instead, weakly moved her lips to touch Carth's. Breathing in the air around Carth was enough for her now, knowing that she was safe, that there were no more demons. No more Sith for her. Not for now, at least.
It did not matter now. Revan kept forcing herself to think that, to live in the moment, because she knew she could not stand thinking about whatever was coming next.
As Carth held her tighter, Revan knew that he must have been thinking exactly the same thing.
In the waiting room, Mira and Atton finished off what had to be their tenth game of Pazaak. Republic Senate rules or not, Mira was going insane from the game. There had to be a better way of pacifying Atton than this.
Behind Atton, Visas turned suddenly towards the door leading to the remainder of the medical center. Noticing this, Mira followed suit, and heard frantic yelling from where Visas was looking. Though the voices were muffled through the door, Mira thought she could make out some phrases suggesting that something urgent regarding Alainna was happening.
"What?" asked Atton, turning to where Mira was looking. He heard the word "Jedi," and jumped up to head for the door. Mira grabbed at his sleeve, but Atton shook her off. The girl leapt up and whirled around in front of him, pushing him backwards.
"Atton," Mira snapped, "sit down. You aren't helping anything."
She looked up at him, and the murderous look in his eyes made her fire waver. Atton shoved her to the side, and Mira tugged on his sleeve brutally.
"Sit down!"
"No," he growled. "I'm not going to let her go."
"You're not! Atton, what could you possibly do to help her in there? Even Mical's staying back, and he actually does know something about medical… stuff."
Atton was still struggling to pull his arm away from Mira. He was surprised at how strong Mira's tiny form was, and both of them strained until finally, Visas' voice rang out from behind them.
"Stop," Visas commanded. "Both of you. Think of everything you teach… discipline, calm, peace. Think. We stand for something. Do not forget that."
Mira and Atton found themselves lightly propelled away from each other and the door. Mira looked over to see Visas standing, her hand slightly extended, pressing Atton and Mira against opposite walls.
"Do not forget that," she repeated, walking away. Mira and Atton glared across at each other, but neither of them felt justified in standing again.
Bao-Dur walked into the room. His presence was unusually flustered, and Mira jumped to meet him.
"The General," breathed Bao-Dur. "She's… freed herself, somehow."
Atton's jaw dropped. Bao-Dur continued.
"She's recovering consciousness… we should be able to see her in about an hour, if all goes relatively well. Atton, I know you know this, but still… don't get too close to the General, all right?"
Mira nodded obediently.
"Good," said Bao-Dur. "I've already discussed this all with Mical and Visas. Perhaps you should join us in the outer waiting area… it would be good for us to meditate together until the General is recovered enough for us to see her."
Mira and Atton rose, following Bao-Dur. Out of the corner of her eye, Mira thought that Atton looked even more worried now than he had when the Exile had been on the verge of death. Just what were they not telling Mira?
A droid pushed another needle under Alainna's skin, and the Jedi was not sure just how much more fluid her body could handle. Through bleary eyes, she could see a small crowd of gawking Telosian officers and medics, none of who would venture too near to the battered Jedi.
Alainna must have blacked out, because the next thing she knew, the multitude had transformed into a single peering Twi'lek doctor, who was muttering to himself grimly in Huttese.
"Master Jedi," said the doctor in low-pitched Basic. Alainna instinctively wanted to protest the inaccurate title, but couldn't find the strength. "You have some visitors. Please, do not try to speak. You are aware of your condition, correct?"
"Mhmm," Alainna affirmed.
"Good. If you have any problems, these droids will be exceptionally tuned in to you. You need only move a hand, and a droid will move to assist you."
Shows what kind of condition I'm in, thought Alainna. Alainna was not sure she could even lift a finger, but she was in such a hazy state that she did not particularly care.
The doctor left. Replacing him were the Jedi of Alainna's former crew, the sight of whom made Alainna's mouth twitch in an attempt at a smile. The six of them sat in silence for a few moments. Then, the room filled with a quiet, resonant hum as the five Jedi sitting around Alainna concentrated on restoring the central Jedi's strength.
For what turned out to be at least one-and-a-half standard hours, they meditated together, until finally Alainna had the strength to sit up and speak.
"Hey," she said groggily. "I missed you guys out there."
The other Jedi were speechless, overcome with various emotions.
"Wow… so… guess I'll start with the bad news."
"Must you?" asked Mical meekly, a half-smile feigning relief on his aggrieved face.
"Yeah… um… I… I guess you knew I was out in the Sith Empire… and these Sith… they're the originals. The species. They're… really, they're geniuses. And they have poisons… poisons that only affect non-Sith organics. They spread a pathogen through skin-to-skin contact… a pathogen that eats away at you on the inside, some more quickly than others.
No one made a sound. They all knew what Alainna was getting at.
"Yeah… I'm poisoned," Alainna admitted, her eyes moist. "And the only cure is back in the Sith Empire."