Onthant and Cyla's relationship did progress as well as my Jedi training. In fact, it was a bit after I had turned fourteen when Onthant had proposed to Cyla.

She said "yes".

We had a small wedding in the old shop after we shut the doors. We had made Cyla a dress out of some material we found on discount; well, she mostly made the dress as none of us knew how to sew. Onthant wore the old suit our dad had worn when he had married Onthant's mother and his hair was tight back in a slick ponytail; now he had a full-grown beard on his chin too. Strive and I wore the best clothing we could find and did our best to make a little altar for the wedding. I even combed back my hair. We even made a little cake for the occasion. Canto was the one who performed the wedding since he got a license off the Holonet that allowed the two to get married. Beepy was decorated with a little bow tie and a pillow as he held out the two rings for them; also passed down from Onthant's mother and father.

Strive was caught crying a little by myself a few times and so was Canto. I didn't cry, but I was still ecstatic for my Master and brother. It was really fun after-party that followed. We played a few games that included Onthant and Cyla guessing trivia about the other, Canto telling Cyla of embarrassing things Onthant did when he was a little kid, Onthant and I seeing which one of us knew more trivia about Cyla(I won. But how can I be surprised? I was her Padawan), Strive and Onthant seeing which one of them could take the most hot sauce, a race of me riding Beepy vs. everyone who dared challenge us as they rode a chair with wheels, and Onthant and Cyla kissing each other for a really long time and seeing who could hold their breath the longest. It was probably one of the happiest days I had seen of our family before..well..everything.

Strive and I had secretly saved up enough money for Cyla and Onthant to take a honeymoon vacation for three rotations. It was only a small motel a couple levels up, but at least it was something.

Our world came to a halt when Cyla started to feel nauseated and sick for continuous rotations. She would have to sit down at random moments from exhaustion the following few rotations after the wedding. We couldn't find a fever on her, so we urged her to get checked out by the doctor in the Temple.

When she came back to the shop a little later after her appointment, we all knew something was wrong as she began to sob in Onthant's arms. He and I comforted her in a hug as Canto, Beepy, and Strive stood close as they knew something was wrong.

She was pregnant.

When she had to explain herself to the Council, she said that she had no idea how she got pregnant. She dared not to mention her marriage as she knew that was the cause of it. It wasn't a lie that she didn't know how she got pregnant. "She really didn't know how she allowed herself to get pregnant" would be a more accurate statement. The Council was a little skeptical, but let her stay in the Order because Cyla still needed to train me.

When Cyla told us, however, Canto nearly fell over as his heart nearly stopped, Strive was frozen with shock, Beepy was panicking, and Onthant was doing his best to calmly process the information while also comforting his wife and the mother of his future child. I was mostly confused.

How was this supposed to work out? What was I supposed to do? Who was going to take care of the baby? How are we going to be able to care for such a fragile thing as a child? Our family could hardly survive just us as is; a baby was an extra mouth that we couldn't afford to feed. And what about my Jedi training with Cyla? She couldn't take care of two kids; training one in the Jedi ways and the other needing every aspect of it taken care of. Onthant couldn't take care of the child when Cyla was training me because he had to work in the shop, and we couldn't afford to hire someone to take his place. Down here, we don't have such a thing of paternity leave. You make it or you don't. You live or you die, and that means making difficult decisions. There is no one to help you-

No. That's not right; I was not on my own anymore. I had a family; now just a little bigger. And that's a big adjustment. But, we were Dumes and Solarburns and a- wait. What even is Strive's last name? Dear Force, I forgot his name!

Has it really been that long?Jeez…

We walled off a small area of the common room and put on a door to make a new room for the baby and Cyla and Onthant to move into. We also made a little crib for it.

It was a few rotations after Cyla had given us the news when we were beginning to paint the new nursery. We were in the apartment and came across a predicament.

"What color are we gonna paint it?" Canto asked. "Do we even know the thing's gender?"

"No," Cyla shook her head. "It's too early to know just yet."

"I kinda hope it's a boy," Strive said as he shrugged his shoulders. "It'd be cool to have another little Solarburn boy around."

"I'm hoping for a girl," Canto stated. "I'm tired of dealing with boys."

"Wow, Dad," Onthant looked to Canto with an annoyed look. "Wow."

"I hope it's a boy," I spoke up. "I really want a baby brother."

The others gave me a questioning stare as I said that. I didn't really process what I had said that would cause this; it made me feel uneasy.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" I asked as I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach from the looks they were embedding into my soul with their eyes.

"You just said that the baby would be your brother," Cyla said.

"Do you see me as a father figure? Do you see Cyla and me as parent figures? " Onthant asked, confused.

"What? No!" I quickly defended myself. "If anything, I see you as a bother figure because you're always bothering me."

"Hey, show your father some respect!" Strive joked.

"No! I-"

"Jalo, don't worry; I take it as a compliment," Cyla smiled. I hadn't noticed before that her Upper-level Coruscant accent was slowly fading away until just then. It must have been because she spent so much time with us in the Slum District. She still kept most of it throughout her life, though; always keeping that little bit of her Jedi past with her forever. Probably one of the few things she kept that reminded her that she was from the Jedi Temple that was once so high and mighty; now gone like the light of day after sunset.

"I did not mean to say it would be my brother! You two aren't my parents!"

"Don't worry about it, son," Onthant smiled. "Wanna talk about it later over a game of catch?"

"I'd like that," I softly sighed, just loud enough so only Onthant could hear me.

Truth be told, I really did. I saw each one of them like they were my own flesh and blood. Canto and Onthant seemed like father figures to me; Onthant also leaning towards the big brother role model for me. Cyla was like a big sister to me and sometimes the mom I never had. Strive even seemed like he were a big brother or uncle to me. They each made me into who I was when I grew up. Canto taught me to take care of business, Onthant taught me to keep my head up, Strive taught me to have fun in life, and Cyla taught me to be the strongest I could for the sake of others. They were the ones who raised me. They were the ones who loved me when no one else actually were my family. And I thought nothing could take that away from me.

I was so wrong. I was so very very wrong.

During the time when our family was expecting our new addition of a baby, my training was more difficult than ever. Cyla was a bit moody, always tired, and couldn't spar with me anymore for lightsaber training. She did the best she could, though. I could see it. I knew that pregnant women are usually cranky, but Cyla was hardly even close; maybe having a slight short temper here and there. But overall, she'd never lost her cool. I also heard they often cried; I only saw her cry when she told us the news of the pregnancy. It was also a common thing for women expecting a baby to have lots of cravings; she was self-disciplined and never asked for any food we didn't already have. If anything, we were the ones who were the most worrisome. Onthant always made sure she never got even a simple scratch, Strive always came over to our apartment to make us food, Canto even constantly made sure that Cyla wasn't overworked; never letting her even get near working on large projects in the shop, and I even made sure that she could get the most rest she could. I tried my absolute best to absorb whatever she taught me quickly so she only had to teach me once. I even began to study academics on my own; such as arithmetics, reading, and some history of the Jedi Order that all Padawans were required to learn. My brain still got distracted constantly, but I did my best for my brain not to get the best of me.

Even with this all, I honestly did feel a little neglected. I knew it was selfish of me, but I still wanted the attention of my family. I especially got mad with Onthant a few times as we were arguing over projects we were working on and I'd yell how he never bothered to teach me what to do and he'd yell that he doesn't have any time to deal with my stupidity. I also hated how my Jedi training was put back even more despite how I was far behind in my training if you considered my age. I felt horrible about it all; especially now that I look back at it. I should have listened to Cyla more. I should have just stepped back for a moment and realized the bigger problem rather than just focus on the problems it caused myself.

One thing I did notice during Cyla's pregnancy was how much she actually loved Onthant. Sure, I knew Onthant loved Cyla and he showed it; but I never knew just how much she actually loved him. It was one night we three were on the couch in the common room and watching some Holo TV; the baby halfway is grown now and the bump definitely showed on Cyla's stomach. My Master sat in between my brother and me, curled up on Onthant's arm and her head resting on his shoulder.

"Hey, Onnie?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to name the baby?"

"Well, we have to know what its gender is first."

"We do, though," Cyla told. My head perked right up and so did Onthant's as we were immediately intrigued.

"What?"

"It's gonna be a girl; the doctor said," she told. "Though, I still think it's gonna be a boy."

"Why do you think that?"

"I can just tell," my Jedi Master shrugged. "It just gives off that vibe that reminds me so much of you."

"How so?"

"Protective yet friendly," Cyla told. "I can just tell he's gonna grow up to be like his daddy. Strong, protective, tall, and cuddly."

"Cuddly?" I scoffed.

As she looked back at me, she half chuckled, "Yes, Jalo. Your brother is very cuddly."

"Well, I'm not so sure about that," I shook my head.

She smiled and quickly wrapped her arms around me as she let go of Onthant's arm. I complained while laughing as she hugged me snugly and refused to let go.

"Well, you're pretty cuddly too, Jalo," she hugged me and ruffled my hair. "You sure you and Onthant aren't really related?"

"Stop!" I laughed as she continued to hug.

She let go of me and looked at Onthant and said, "I think you've helped raise one boy pretty well, how bad of parents could we be to this baby?" as she rubbed her belly.

"I didn't raise that idiot," Onthant chuckled.

"But you did play a huge role in his life," Cyla commented. "You really are like a secondary father-figure; behind Canto. You're gonna be a great father, Onnie."

He leaned over and kissed her for a moment.

"Force I love you," Cyla sighed as she pulled away from the kiss.

"Blehk," I disapproved of the kiss as I cringed.

"Shut up, Blondie," Onthant warned.

That actually was one of the few times I ever heard her say the word "love". She'd say it to Onthant very seldom in front of me; probably because she still wanted me to be a true Jedi. To not follow the path she led. She was really disobeying the Order to marry Onthant; she didn't want that for me. She was my Jedi Master and knew that I was supposed to eventually be a Jedi Knight like she was, but she wanted me to be better. That's how all teachers are to their students. All parents to their children. I knew that Cyla didn't want me to follow her steps and fall in love like she foolishly had. But, then again, I didn't listen to reason much.

I regret not listening sorely.

I didn't listen to her advice when everything boiled down. How stupid I was! How many things could have been avoided if I had just listened to her! So much time wasted! So much hurt caused! The lives that were lost! Everything! I'm going to tell you right now, if I had even listened to even just an inkling of what my Master had taught me, oh what a different life I would have led! Do you know how much I regret not letting that little voice that Cyla tried so hard to put in my head?! Do you even know how much better things might have been in my life as well as my family's if I had listened to her?! Men died because of me! Their blood on MY hands!

And it could have all been avoided. If only I had listened...

It was only mere rotations before the baby arrived when I had made one of my biggest mistakes of my life.

The Council had been apparently been getting more and more worried about how powerful Black Heth was growing and wanted us to sniff it out to see what they're planning. Though, Cyla never got the news. The message was given to me when I made one of my travels to the surface and to the Temple on my own to retrieve more data pads for my academics I'd learn at home; this had become routine after Cyla became pregnant. I often just went with Beepy to the Temple and we'd retrieve the supplies for my education and travel back home. I would get my things from Master Rend and she'd often give me a smile and my supplies every time. One day, she gave Beepy and me a chip and told us that it was imperative that Cyla got it. And, of course, I had to see it first. As soon as Beepy and I got to the Under City, I plugged the chip in and it displayed a plethora of words. I skimmed through it, my eyes near tumbling as I struggled to read so much. But the overall message was what I had said beforehand and something to my dismay: Black Heth caught wind that our family was expecting a baby.

How was I supposed to tell that to Cyla? "Hey, Master! Oh, by the way, your child is possibly going to get either killed or kidnapped by the gang that was under the command of my father! Oh, and I also read a file that was supposed to go directly from the Jedi Temple to you! Aren't I an amazing Padawan?" didn't seem like the best thing to say. My family was already worried enough about the baby just being born. This stress was immense on them already; I couldn't bring myself to tell them. I never told them.

As I let out a couple shaky breaths, I faked a laugh to the droid in front of me, "Huh, I guess our family is popular."

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Beepy frantically whirred over and over.

"Hey, hey, relax," I told the droid. "It's a good chance they wouldn't want to deal with TWO Jedi protecting this baby. So, you and I'll just keep a careful eye out."

"Are we even going to tell them?!This seems like a big deal! I don't want anyone to get hurt..."

"No. Cyla is already under enough stress. This would just add to it, and I think that hurts a baby. We'll just keep this a secret between you and me."

"But-"

"It's going to be fine. Trust me. Don't you have any faith in me?"

This was a decision that near killed me later on.

It was mere rotations before Cyla was due to have the baby. (The family even decided to name it Syla as it was the name Strive called Cyla when we all first met her. But, I still hoped that it would be a boy despite that.) Canto and I were out running a couple errands and getting our needed supplies. He told me to go and look for Onthant who was also out looking for some supplies but had gone a separate way so we'd cover more ground. I decided to Force-jump onto the near buildings roofs and scanned my eyes around for my brother. It wasn't until I felt a sudden jerk in the Force that I decided to go back towards my dad.

I ran across the rooftop; not knowing why I even had such speed. Just knowing that the Force had suddenly felt so disturbed just then and there made me worry. My body stiffened like a statue when I saw Razo talking to Canto in the middle of the walkway. He seemed so angry towards Canto; growling and nearly spitting in his face as he spoke.

Canto didn't know who he was. What he wanted. Why he was there. He only knew he was angry.

"I want my son back," Razo growled. "I know he's been living with you. I have eyes all over this d mn slum. This is your last warning old man; either you give me my kid or I'll take the one that's due here soon."

"I don't know who you are or what you want," Canto glared into his eyes. "But, if you hurt either of my boys or my grandchild, I'll make sure that you don't see the light of day again."

"DAD!" I screamed at the top of my lungs from atop the roof.

Both men snapped their heads towards me as they had heard my voice. Razo saw that I had only been looking at Canto when I said that word and was infuriated. He whipped out his pistol from under his arm and placed it on Canto's chest.

"NO!"

His eyes glassed over and looked so surprised. So stunned. It was as if he took in a breath and could let it out; freezing in his throat. He couldn't move his limbs; I saw the panic in his eyes. There's something strange about when a man dies. Something that makes them just know that they're not there anymore. You can see their soul almost as it goes on and leaves the rest of us behind.

I screamed bloody murder as I saw this.

"DAD!"

I saw him fall to the ground with a hard thump. As I saw his final breath finally leave his mouth, rage-filled every inch of me. Maybe it was anger towards me, towards Razo, or towards the Force for letting this happen; but it was pure rage, and I had never so much of it before.

My hands took my lightsaber as if they had a mind for themselves and ignited the green blade. Rage took control of me and my lightsaber split the air as it flew at Razo and pierced his chest.

He locked eyes with me. He smiled. And he left. His body hit the ground and my lightsaber deactivated and clattered to the ground.

Time froze. Razo wasn't breathing. Canto wasn't breathing.I wasn't screaming anymore; I wasn't breathing.

One blink. I walked into an old mechanics shop and found an old droid and a man gave me a home.

Two blinks. My face was splattered with cake and I was fighting my brother while our dad stopped our fighting.

Three blinks. My dad was telling old stories to my Master on the day of my brother and Master's wedding.

Four blinks. My dad found out he was going to be a grandpa and I was going to be an uncle.

Five blinks. I killed a man.

Six blinks. I fell to my knees and puked.

Seven blinks. I sobbed.

Eight blinks. Onthant came running to the scene. Crouching down to our dad and crying, begging him to stay with us.

Nine blinks. I saw nothing

Ten blinks. I saw Cyla looking at me as she seemed distressed about something. Looking for something in my face.

" Padawan? Padawan?" her urgent voice was distorted. It was like she was underwater. Or maybe I was the one drowning.

"Jalo~"

Who's voice said that? It wasn't Cyla, nor Onthant, nor Strive, nor any voice I knew.

"Wake up~" the voice spoke. "You can't go now. Not yet. Wake up."

"Who are you?" my mouth had mustered to speak those three words.

She seemed so sad as I said that; like something inside was on the verge of breaking. "Padawan, what do you mean? Are you ok?"

"Not you…" I exhaled a weak breath. "The other voice."

"Jalo?" my eyes began to droop shut. "JALO!"

" You're not going to die. That's later on. Not here. Not now~"

It funny, you'd think blood wouldn't taste so sweet and yet so bitter. You wouldn't have thought that it would be so cold yet so warm in your mouth. You wouldn't have thought it would taste so much like a copper wire you held with your teeth because you working on a speeder bike. You wouldn't think it would feel so dry as it cracked on your lips and ear as the crimson red liquid dried as time wouldn't have thought it would almost feel refreshing on your skull as it trickled through your hair and onto your face.

I wouldn't have thought it would feel so bad or so good; the feeling of blood. It was trying to heal the wounds but only made things worse. It was trying. I guess that's what mattered. What made it so bad was how it showed your pain; your weakness.

"Padawan!" her voice was clearing up.I could hear the pleading in it with a trace of horror. "Please!"

"I-I…" I thought on what to say. "Is he...am I?...how's…"

"We have to get you to a doctor," she stated.

"Mmm...no," I said. "No- no doctor."

"Jalo, you're bleeding," her voice almost cracked. Almost. "You hit your head."

"I'm fine," I restricted the puke in my throat. "I promise, Master."

"What happened? What happened? Oh, by Force, what happened?" she shook her head.

"I don't know."

"Let's get you home."

But that was a lie. The home wasn't home as now it was broken like some glass; a large shard now missing.

I wanted to die. Oh, how I felt that death was tempting within the following rotations.

I never left my room; I never left the darkness.

"You killed him...you killed THEM…" I would repeat in my head over and over and over again and again as I sat in my room. "They're dead...you killed them...you killed them...dear Force you killed them…"

I wouldn't let anyone in. Cyla often checked on me as she stood outside my door, same with Onthant and Beepy. Strive was always kind enough to leave me some food at the door. I wondered why he didn't ask if I'm ok; as if he knew that asking me wasn't the best thing to do. I wonder how he knew. Who is his family anyways? Biologically? Where were they? What happened to them? What happened to him?

I didn't want to ask.

I wouldn't even let Onthant share our room anymore. And how selfish I was; like a baby. That was his father- his dad- who also had been slain. My selfishness didn't even let me consider him as one to be distressed by this; the death of our dad. He didn't get a room for the next couple rotations, he had a baby on the way, a mechanic shop to run, a slain father and his little brother didn't even bother to speak to him other than yelling "Go away!" everytime he tried to get in. What a brat I was.

"But I'M one who lost TWO dads.

I'm the one who's Master basically forced me into living a lie after she got pregnant!

I'm going to be the one who has to be an uncle! I'll probably have to take care of the stupid thing and postpone my Jedi training even more!

But I'm the one who KILLED my father! And I killed my dad by never telling anyone of that message!

I'm the one who should be feeling sorry! I'm the one who should be the one crying!"

Those were my thoughts during those days; and how stupid I was. I kept feeding myself these thoughts and purposely drowned in my own pity. I couldn't breathe through all the tears at some points; especially at night.

"Jalo, please," Cyla sighed as she stood on the other side of the door I had my back too. "I just want to talk, Padawan. Please."

"What do you want to talk about?" I sighed.

"You," Cyla spoke. And after a long pause: "It's been two rotations. Please just open the door."

I sighed. "Fine."

She opened the door and I stood in front of her. Her face hardly more than a shadow as the light behind her had cast a veil of darkness.

"Are you going to ask me if I'm ok or something?" I spat out the words.

"I know you're not, so what's the point of asking?" she stated. "No one would be ok. Not even the strongest person to exist would be ok. We all lost a loved one, and you had to watch it. "

"I don't want pity from you, Master."

"And so I will not give you any," she said. "Just a helping hand. May we sit?"

And so we sat in the hammock I usually slept in.

"This is my fault," I sighed. "He- he wouldn't have gotten killed if I had- If I-..."

"Padawan," she stopped me. "There is nothing we can do. There is no point in assigning blame to yourself; it helps nothing."

"But-"

"Would Canto want to see you like this?" she asked, a tone of seriousness to her voice as she looked at me. I didn't look back at her.

"I-"

"Hmm?"

A deep sigh escaped my mouth, " -"

"Nothing. But nothing."

"I killed MY FATHER," I sobbed all of a sudden. "I-I stabbed him in the heart! I KILLED HIM!"

I wrapped my arms around her and sobbed into her shoulder. My tears stained her shirt and crystallized on my face as they left my eyes. I could hardly breathe until Cyla lifted me up and looked straight at me; her eyes nowhere except but looking at me.

"A-am I going to the Dark side- for- for killing him?" I stuttered. "Am I-"

"No," she answered as she shook her head side to side. She seemed so focused. So calm.

"How do you know?"

"Because you are too strong to succumb to the Dark," she stated. "I know you better than you think, Padawan. And by what I know, you never will-"

Her sentence was interrupted and she gripped her stomach in pain and let out a small yelp of pain. I gasped and looked at her, asking if I could help.

"I-I'm fine, Padawan," she sighed out of her nose, suppressing the pain. "Just a really hard kick from the baby."

I didn't know what to do.

"You never even felt the baby," she realized. "Are you afraid to touch it?"

"Kinda," I admitted. "What if I hurt the baby? If I hurt you?"

"You won't," she promised. She gently grabbed my hand and placed it on her stomach.

There was something strange about it. It was like I could feel the baby through the Force without looking very hard for him. Almost like the baby was wanting to reach out towards me. It didn't even know me and it already trusted me. I remember during the first couple rotations of when Cyla was expecting and the baby only felt like a small twang in the Force. Now it was distinct; you could tell it's personality now through the Force.

Happy. It was happy. It was eager. He didn't know what the reason was to be eager, but boy was that baby eager through the Force. And strong.

"See?" Cyla stated. "The baby likes you."

"Why though?"

"Because he or she knows that you're gonna be a good uncle," she said. "And I know you're gonna be a great Jedi Knight one day as well as an uncle."

Oh little did she know...