Chapter Twenty-Nine: Symbiotic

She was gone.

One minute they were standing there on the platform, ready to face Bastila. The next, Jolee and Carth were standing behind a locked door, still on the same platform. Revan was nowhere to be seen.

Bastila. She must have used the Force to freeze them, or something… But why? To prevent them from ganging up on her? To prevent them from helping Revan?

Carth tried to unlock the heavy metal door. Tried was the operative word considering he hadn't opened one door while on the Star Forge, and didn't know where the locking mechanism was. He just knew that he couldn't get the door open. He asked Jolee for help; they needed to get to the other side to aid Revan.

"She's not there," Jolee said.

"What are you talking about?" Carth snapped. "She's in there with Bastila! She—"

"Not anymore," Jolee said. "Don't you—Well, I suppose you can't."

"Don't I what?"

"There's a change in the Force," Jolee said, stepping up to the door and inspecting it. "The Star Forge is concerned. Revan's done something it doesn't like."

Carth looked at Jolee. "That's good, isn't it?"

"For the battle, yes," Jolee answered. He ran his hand against the metal door. "For us, I don't know."

"Not following you."

A loud metal bang rang through the small hallway. Jolee stepped back and the door slid open, revealing the room Bastila was meditating in before—

"Bastila!" Carth said, seeing the young woman sitting in front of a view screen of the battle outside, her back to him. "She's…" He didn't finish the sentence. Carth ran into the room, blasters drawn, looking for any sign of trouble, and any sign of Revan. "Bastila!" Carth cried, raising a blaster to Bastila's head. "Where's Revan? Where is she?"

Bastila didn't answer.

"Bastila!" Carth snapped.

"She's in deep meditation, son," Jolee said. "Her battle meditation—"

"What's she meditating on?"

"Check out the view screen and tell me yourself."

Carth looked at Jolee, then up at the view screen. He saw the computer images of the Star Forge, the Republic warships, the Sith warships, the small fighters for both sides, and the flashes of weapon fire. He studied the view screen for a few seconds, then blinked. If he was reading the screen correctly, the Republic fighters were flying in perfect formation… and the Sith fighters were decreasing in numbers…

"We're winning," Carth gasped. "How…" He looked down at Bastila's head.

"The change in the Force I felt," Jolee said. He looked at Carth. "Bastila's on our side now."

Carth lowered his blaster. "Revan," he whispered.

"The Star Forge is in a panic," Jolee said. "I can feel the chaos, the concern, the desperateness. Revan convinced Malak's apprentice to switch sides. It threw everything it could at Revan, and she still—"

"—managed to defeat it," Carth finished, still looking at the top of Bastila's head. Pride filled his heart as he re-holstered his blasters. Revan had done it. She'd beaten the Star Forge. He was so proud of her.

Jolee snorted. "I wouldn't say she defeated it. Maybe resisted it this time. But certainly not defeat."

Carth looked at Jolee. "But she—"

"—still has a long way to go," Jolee said. "She still has Malak yet to face. Bastila's nothing compared to what she has yet to do. Malak's going to be difficult even if the Star Forge gives her a moment's peace."

Malak, Carth thought."I've got to help her." He looked all around, looking for some clue of the direction Revan went. "Where did she go? She needs my help!"

"You can't help her," Jolee said. "She's on her own now."

Carth rushed over to a computer panel near the view screen. Everything was in Rakatan—the buttons, the controls, the read-out. If he could just find a security camera feed, maybe he could figure out where she was and where she went.

"You're wasting your time," Jolee said. "We need to get back to the Ebon Hawk before this place—"

"I made a promise to her!" Carth snapped. He studied the control panel silently wishing T3-M4 was there. Carth began punching random buttons, hoping one of them would do something. When nothing happened, he kicked the computer in frustration.

"Revan must face Malak on her own," Jolee said. "There's nothing you can do. This is something she needs to do on her own. She's a Jedi, he's a Sith. You can't do anything to help her."

"I told her I'd be there when she faced Malak!"

"And that's a promise even she knows you couldn't possibly keep!" Jolee snapped. "You've followed her this far, and even I'm amazed you're still alive after facing all those Dark Jedi. This is a matter that's beyond your help."

"I said—"

"I know what you said," Jolee continued, "and I know why you said it. But you can only help her so far. The rest she's got to do on her own. You can't protect her now."

Carth kicked the computer. "I can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"That's precisely what you're going to do!"

"I'm not going to—"

"Dammit, Carth, you're not a Jedi!" Jolee yelled. "You can't do a damn thing against Malak other than get yourself killed! I know you said you'd fight along side of her because you love her and want to protect her! But dammit, Carth, you can't do anything for her now! This is something she has to do on her own! She has to face Malak alone! You don't know what those two were like before!"

"And I suppose you do?" Carth said angrily, looking at Jolee.

"As a matter of fact, I do!"

Carth didn't have a comeback. He stood there in silence.

Jolee took a deep breath. In a calmer, quieter voice, he explained. "What you and Revan share she once shared with him. I'm not talking friendship, I'm not talking lovers. When I first met you and Liana on Kashyyyk, I felt the same thing with you two that I felt when I first met Revan and Malak."

"What exactly are you talking about?" Carth asked.

"The Force controls the galaxy," Jolee said. "Everything the Force does is for a purpose, for a reason. The Force brought Revan and Malak together, just like it brought you and Liana."

"Basic, Jolee!" Carth snapped in frustration.

Jolee grumbled. "What you and Liana share goes beyond friendship, beyond lovers. There is a reason you two are together, a reason you two are so close. You can't exist without her. Everything you went through after Telos turned you into a soulless monster hell-bent on revenge. Liana changed that, and dammit don't you know it. She makes you a person again, and she brings back everything you thought you lost when your wife died. She's the only person who's ever done that, who you've ever let beyond that emotionless wall you worked so hard to build."

Carth said nothing.

"And you do the same thing for her," Jolee continued. "Her world collapsed when she learned the truth. And you turned your back to her. She worked so hard to regain your trust because you were the one person that mattered to her. Did you hear her yell at me for knowing who she was all along? Did you see her buddy-buddy up with Canderous because he was awestruck? No, dammit! She even went out of her way to make sure you found Dustil! And you still weren't talking to her until she collapsed from exhaustion! Even then what did she do, huh? She called for you. She didn't want Mission, or Juhani, or me. She wanted you. And you weren't even talking to her!"

"What are you trying to say?" Carth asked.

"Aren't you listening to me?" Jolee cried. "Son of a Sith, Carth! You two have a symbiotic relationship. You can't function without her, and she needs you to keep her strong."

Carth said nothing.

"Revan had that same relationship with Malak," Jolee continued, much calmer. "And don't think she doesn't know that. She's had enough flashbacks to know that what you are to her now, he was to her then."

Carth looked back at the computer consol. "I still want to help her."

"You are," Jolee said. "She turned Bastila back. You think she would have done that if it wasn't for you?"

"I… I don't know," Carth said. "I just—"

A red light on the computer monitor started to blink rapidly. Carth frowned and pressed what looked to be the corresponding button. The computer monitor then turned to a video feed of a room filled with smoking… something. Robots? Carth frowned. What was he looking—

A small person came into view, holding a lightsaber in each hand.

"Revan!" Carth gasped. "She's in that room!"

"What room?" Jolee asked.

"I don't know," Carth said. "I don't know where—"

"To your right."

Jolee and Carth looked at each other, then at Bastila. The young Jedi opened her eyes and looked up at the two men. "She went through the door on your right. Malak's set up a trap for her."

Carth ran towards the door on the right.

"Blast it!" Jolee cursed. "Boy doesn't listen no matter what I tell him!" He chased after Carth, calling for him to stop.

Carth reached the door only to find it locked. "Blast!" he softly swore as he searched for the latch Jolee used to unlock the door. "Where's the lock, where's the lock, where's the—"

"Move," Carth heard Jolee grumble. He turned to his right and saw Jolee reach up and turn a switch. The metal door slid open.

The first thing Carth saw was smoke. He coughed and waved a hand in front of his face, then stepped inside. "Revan?" he called, grabbing his blasters. "Rev, you okay?"

The only sound Carth heard was the snapping and crackling of the destroyed robots. As he walked forward, he looked for her, hoping she was okay. "Revan?"

Then he saw her. She was standing at the far end of the room, looking at… something. All he could see was her profile.

"Revan!" he called, now running towards her. "Wait up!"

She ran to him and they embraced, Carth kissing her passionately, telling her how much he loved her, and how he'd fight along side of her until the end.

Or at least that's what he envisioned would happen. Instead, Revan turned her head and looked at him. She looked stoic, showing no emotion, and said nothing.

Carth stopped halfway to her. "Revan," he said. "Beautiful… are you okay?"

She said nothing.

"Revan," he said again, searching for something to say. "Revan, I…"

She gripped her lightsabers, turned her head forward, then walked away.

There would be no embrace, no kiss, no last words of encouragement.

Carth watched her. He didn't know what to say or what to do. He stood there helpless. Carth had been fighting with Jolee, telling him how he needed to help Revan. And she walked away without so much as a word. His emotions overwhelmed him, and all he could feel was failure. Jolee was right. He made a promise he couldn't possibly keep.

A hand touched his shoulder. Carth closed his eyes. He felt tears forming, his eyelashes moist. "If that's an 'I told you so', Jolee—"

"Come on," Jolee said, patting Carth's shoulder. "We can watch from the monitors in the other room."

Carth looked at Jolee. "Watch? Watch what?"

Jolee smiled and shook his head. "The moment we've waited for all year."