Paneau: remote Naeron Mountains
Rys'tihn Retreat
6.0 APC
The sickening feeling that it had all happened before nearly paralyzed Elena as she and Koril moved through the Retreat with a dozen Royal Guards surrounding them. She could sense their children were alive and okay, but she needed to find them, and she needed to find them now.
Mechanics and engineers were still opening doors that had been sealed shut in the sudden chaos, adding to her anxiety that was already through the roof. How had this happened? The Kel Dor had once again violated their sense of security, and even though he was now in custody, she still couldn't believe how it had gone down, another shootout in the Retreat that was supposed to be their safe haven from the galaxy.
They came upon a number of executed Royal Guards in one hallway, painfully tearing at her heart as she looked on each one. There were no signs of the children, though, so they moved on, but she was in no way prepared for the next scene they came upon...
At the corner of the next corridor, she saw Cade knelt on the ground...cradling his son Garran in his arms. The deep, unadulterated anguish on Cade's face was telling enough for her, and somehow walking over to them, she sank to her knees in front of him, already shedding bitter, mournful tears that landed atop her round belly.
"Garran..."
The Rys'tihn Ghost Heir spoke without tone. "He's stopped breathing..."
Though they'd only known the teen for a few precious months, he had quickly been assumed into their family, becoming an older brother of sorts to their children. He had only just learned of his heritage as a Royal of Paneau, giving him a taste of the life he'd been denied for seventeen years as an exile. His youthful enthusiasm and pure, kind heart had endeared him to Elena, and looking on his lifeless body, she couldn't stay her sorrow. She gently stroked his cheek, and studying his face, she listened with the Force, and...she heard...
"But...his heart's still beating..."
Blinking away her tears, she looked up at Cade in alarm. "Lay him down!"
Numbly complying, Cade settled Garran onto the floor, and Elena carefully felt around the teen's throat, assessing the damage. "His airway's been crushed..."
Cade nodded weakly. "The Kel Dor strangled him."
With gentle pressure at the back of his neck, Elena delicately placed her other hand atop his throat, swiftly calling on the Force to heal and reopen his airway...
Sudden gasping noises from him were amazing, welcome relief, but as Garran began to come around, he became almost combative, looking around wildly and terrified that he couldn't breathe.
"Garran! Garran, relax, I'm trying to open your throat!"
But he continued to struggle, desperately fighting to draw in another breath. Without it, he was slowly blacking out, but Elena continued working, determined to at least get him breathing easier. He was nearly still again when he took in two large, choking breaths, and beginning the battle once more, Elena realized he could strangely breathe better while unconscious.
"Garran, listen to me, okay? I'm going to put you into a light sleep. You'll breathe easier, and I'll be able to repair your throat more quickly." He still looked so scared as he locked gazes with his father beside him, so she continued. "Look at me, Garran, listen. I promise you that you will wake up again. We'll be with you the whole time, okay? Let me do this for you."
Though he still was straining for good breath and panicking, Garran looked to Cade again, and the elder Rys'tihn nodded to him, taking up his hand at his side.
"It'll be okay, Son."
With his father's comfort, Garran finally relented and agreed. Elena wasted little time, putting him under the trance, and as Garran's eyes slowly closed once more, he could breathe just fine. Cade stared in disbelief.
"His panicking made his muscles tense up and it closed his throat even more," Elena explained, breathless herself as she continued healing. Meeting his gaze, she spoke with calm confidence. "He'll be alright, Cade."
Still holding Garran's hand tightly in his grip, Cade nodded, looking exhausted and spent as she'd never seen him before. However, she knew well the expression on his face; she couldn't leave Garran, either.
"Koril," she turned back to him standing behind her, "I have to stay with him. Go find the children, hurry."
Though he, too, seemed distraught at Garran's condition, Koril nodded, quickly assigning a number of guards to stay with them as he left with Swip and the rest.
"High Commander, we've reopened and searched every room," Major Tidesetter reported to him quietly. "Still no sign of them."
Standing in the Retreat's main atrium flanked by a dozen guards, Koril looked around in thought to contain his escalating worry. "They're here, I know they are." He was somehow able to sense his children nearby in his fleeting mental clarity, and realizing that the Royal Guard hadn't yet searched the entirety of the Retreat, he looked to Swip standing beside him.
"Lieutenant, with me," he ordered shortly, leading him and his men to the one place he knew they hadn't looked.
Pressing his Crest to a nondescript wall, he stepped inside the new door it revealed, making sure his officers kept up as he descended the dim stairs. With his blaster drawn, he slowed to a stop and listened intently for any sound, but none came. They had to be here, they knew nowhere else to hide...
"Derek?" he carefully called down the long, echoing corridor, his voice trembling. "Dirani?"
The tunnel remained silent for a long, tense moment, freezing his breath in his chest, until...
"Daddy?"
Far ahead, he saw Derek's small form timidly step out of the darkness, and Koril could feel his legs trying to give out underneath him in his relief. Willing them forward, though, he ran to the boy, scooping him up into his hold protectively as Dirani clung to him, too.
"Are you two okay?" he asked, frantically looking them over. "Are you hurt?"
Dirani only tightened her hold on his arm, but they both looked fine, no wounds anywhere...
"Yhren!"
Looking up from his children, Koril hadn't expected to see Yhren crumpled against the wall in a recessed alcove, and it took him a moment longer to realize what Swip had already seen as the lieutenant swiftly stepped over to her - she had been gravely wounded.
"Blaster bolt," Swip reported as he carefully assessed her. "Back right shoulder."
The other guards that had accompanied them also moved to assist, but Swip had managed to gently gather her into his arms without causing her further pain and stand with her before they could do much. She wasn't fully alert, weak and only barely able to breathe with one badly damaged lung, but Koril could see that at least with her good hand, she had a tight grip on Swip's uniform as he held her, trusting him to care for her. Knowing that she needed to be treated by the most skillful of Healers, all of which were in Dalon, Koril hoisted both Derek and Dirani into his hold, nodding to his guards to escort them back to the Celestia upstairs.
Paneau: capital city of Dalon
Dalon Medical Center
As Yhren slowly woke, she flexed her right hand, testing its strength...and was surprised to feel someone else's hand holding hers. Her eyes were sluggish in responding, but finally able to see her visitor, she smiled contentedly at Lt. Saross Wip sitting beside her. Not entirely the fault of fatigue from her injury, she felt her heart flutter as he returned the smile, and she struggled to find her voice.
"I hoped it'd be you I'd wake up to."
He blushed the slightest bit, she could tell, seemingly caught off guard by her forwardness. He recovered quickly, though. "I'm very glad to see you awake. Are you feeling alright?"
"I am," she nodded, though she wasn't entirely sure. "...I think."
Amused at her amendment, he laughed lightly. "You think?"
She shrugged, glad it didn't cause her any discomfort. "I've never been hurt like that before..."
His hand tightened around hers ever so gently. "Then I'm glad I didn't let you wake up alone."
Silently thankful that she didn't have any pulse monitors audibly announcing her accelerating heart rate to him, she released a slow breath as her smile broadened, enjoying his attention and subtle affection. He was such a gentleman, keeping her company though he didn't have to. The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized...that he shouldn't have had to. Her mother and her brother were both there at the same medical center, and they would've been with her, unless...
He read her falling expression. "They delivered the twin girls about an hour ago, and they're doing...as well as can be expected." The news relieved her greatly, but when he said nothing of her sister-in-law...she knew he couldn't tell her anything good. Her mouth went dry, and suddenly restless, she began to move despite her lingering weakness.
"I should be with him," she spoke softly, and surprising her, Saross didn't protest.
"I'll help you."
Grateful for his assistance, she numbly stood from her bed, still holding his hand as she tested her legs. They shook underneath her, both from fatigue and from her rising emotional distress, and she felt like they would give way at any moment. Before she could control it, her whole body began trembling, nearly reducing her to her knees. Just when she felt herself breaking down entirely, Saross pulled her into a warm, comforting embrace with care, and she no longer had to support herself alone. She rested her head on his chest, only allowing a few tears to fall before she took in and released a number of deep breaths. Drawing on the renewed strength his touch gave her, she swallowed hard and nodded as she eased from his hold, determined to be Rech's support in his unthinkable loss.
Holding tightly to Saross's arm as they walked to Mand's room together, she hardly noticed anyone they passed, trying to prepare herself for her brother's desolate state. His wife of more than six years, his soul mate, had completed him so well, so fully, Yhren wasn't sure that he could physically survive without her any longer. He'd thought her lost once before when she had suddenly blocked her presence from him, and Elena said he had collapsed the instant he felt Mand "die"; how much more devastated he had to be now, unable to save her at the very last after such a long, arduous battle fought to carry her twins to birth...
As they stood before the silent room, Yhren hesitated a moment, looking to Master Kanomin who also remained in the hallway. The petite Jedi Master wore a sullen, weary expression, her eyes red with grief. She, too, had battled with Rech to help Mand, and she let go of a resigned sigh as she glanced into the room, updating the two.
"They delivered the twins when Mand's heart stopped," she explained with an uncharacteristic quaver in her voice. "They hoped that without the added stress of the two struggling girls, Mand's systems might be able to recover...but they couldn't get her heart started again. The doctors...stopped their efforts...about forty-five minutes ago, but Rech...Rech won't let them take her."
Moved with emotion once more, Yhren leaned against Saross for support, momentarily unsure if she would have the stamina to move forward. She felt him place a light, delicate kiss atop her head, and looking to Master Kanomin again, she took another step...
"Be careful," Master Kanomin warned, and heeding it with a nod, Yhren continued inside, leaving Saross's hold to approach her brother alone.
Rech sat beside Mand in a mess of resuscitation equipment and monitors, with wires and used needles and tools strewn about in the aftermath of chaos. With his eyes closed, he held her hand in earnest, motionless save for his own weak, shallow breathing. He was pale and sweating, a side effect of his prolonged efforts, she reasoned, and though she knew he had to have heard her stepping into the room, he gave no indication of acknowledging her presence. She had to speak first.
"Rech..."
"Don't," he returned immediately, breathless. "She is not gone. She is still here, I can feel it."
Her tears threatened to choke her. "Look, I know how much you want to believe that..."
"I know it. I can still sense her. She's just...lost... But I can find her. I can bring her back. I just need to...focus..."
"Rech, please..."
"I can find her," he repeated, as if trying to convince himself. "Just let me... I need to find her."
He was even more far gone than she had anticipated. While desperately searching for the right words to bring him to his senses, someone else stepped into the room behind her and spoke up instead.
"Use me."
She turned to see Koril approaching them slowly, and looking back to her brother, she was surprised to see his eyes opened, fixed on Koril with a dark, challenging glare.
"Why would I?"
Undeterred by Rech's reaction, Koril continued with a penitent tone. "A few months ago, I was able to reach my sister on Coruscant...while I was here. I know we have a stronger bond than most, but...I think it's my Force skill, what I'm best able to do with my abilities. If you can work through me, amplify my limited range...maybe I can help you find her."
Rech's expression remained unchanged, prompting Koril to add another offer. "Whatever you need, however you need it from me...I will give it."
Taken aback by the finality of his statement, Yhren looked to him with concern. "Koril..."
But he was resolved to it. "I'm not afraid."
Though she was completely confused by the exchange, she returned to Rech to talk him down further, but he had stood from his seat and was looking expectantly at Koril.
"Sit down," he ordered shortly, and as Koril complied, Yhren could only look back and forth between them, speechless and unsure how to stop what was about to happen.
Placing a heavy hand on Koril's shoulder and holding Mand's hand in his other, he closed his eyes to concentrate, and Koril did the same. Before long, they were both completely motionless, even seeming to go long periods between breathing, which concerned her even more. Anxious moments became even lengthier minutes, and as she heard Saross stepping up behind her, she saw Rech's brows tense into a confounded furrow. Were they actually accomplishing something?
"...Rech?"
She didn't expect him to answer, but eventually, he did. "Someone's trying to...fight us...trying to take her away." A deeper, more earnest furrow formed on his face. "Fight back..."
Another tense minute passed, but this time, the movement came from Koril. His head weakly rolled back, but still held in place by Rech's hand, he was motionless once again. She watched him carefully, and...
"He's not breathing."
Sprinting over to Koril's side, she confirmed what she had seen from across the room. She yanked on Rech's arm in a panic; his hand didn't budge from Koril's shoulder. "Rech! Rech, you have to stop this, right now!"
"I can't, he has to." A sudden, distant tone in his voice was almost haunting. "Come on, Koril, you have to fight him... Fight harder!"
A choking, spurt of air from the back of Koril's throat was his only response. Though he made no outward movement or struggle, it sounded as if he were being strangled, as if someone was constricting his airway, but...how was that even possible?
"Saross, get Master Kanomin in here!"
She heard him leave and return just as quickly, and as he and Master Kanomin swept up to the group, none of them could react fast enough as Rech suddenly collapsed to the floor and Koril slumped forward in his seat. Saross and Master Kanomin were at least able to keep Koril from falling, as well, leaving Yhren to tend to her brother.
"Rech!" she called to him repeatedly, brushing his messy, sweat-matted hair from his forehead. His eyes were rolled up into his head, and he was breathing heavily from serious exertion. Slowly recovering, though, he finally focused on her face as she hovered over him, albeit briefly. Back to his senses, he looked past her at Koril who was still taking in deep, desperate breaths, too, and their gazes locked.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
A complete shift in tone, Rech's voice was only full of genuine regret. Koril looked mortified.
"I had no idea," he answered Rech hoarsely in between gasps. "I swear...I didn't know."
"You didn't know what?" Getting no response from Koril, Yhren returned to her brother. "Rech, what just happened!"
Recovered enough, Rech slowly picked himself up off the ground with Yhren's help, having to hold the edge of Mand's bed for support as he stood. As he spoke, he looked like he didn't even believe his own words. "Morden Tarthos...Mand's father. She...she killed him, several years ago, but he..."
"...he tried to take her with him."
Though still sitting with Master Kanomin's healing hand on his shoulder, Koril remained pale, his expression still so haunted as he finished what Rech couldn't. Yhren didn't understand, but it seemed that the two of them were still working through it themselves.
"How?" Rech asked simply, but Koril stared at the floor in thought for some time, unable to answer him, until...
"I was holding my sister as she died three years ago," he explained slowly, piecing it together. "I didn't know what I was doing, I just knew I couldn't let her go... Something happened, and I...Elena said my spirit was...gone. But when I woke up...I had all those voices in my head."
A look of understanding rolled across Rech's face. "You were vulnerable..."
Koril swallowed. "They always went away when I was with Elena, or when you or Mand physically touched me."
"He feared us," Rech concluded quietly. "He knew how powerful we were. He knew we'd be able to stop him - "
"But I was weak," Koril interjected, "all this time..."
"No, Koril... You held him at bay all this time." Surprising Yhren, Rech's voice wavered with emotion. "I should've seen it... I should've known...that it wasn't you.
"I'm sorry, Koril... I let you down."
But Koril only shook his head. "No, Rech, I - "
"I never should have doubted you as a friend. Please...accept my apology."
Though he still looked as remorseful as Rech, Koril finally nodded and extended his hand to Rech. As Koril stood, they engaged a slow, steady handshake, friends once more.
"It's about time you listened to me..."
In disbelief, Yhren turned to Mand in the center of the room to see her eyes open halfway and her chest rise and fall with a weak breath. Instantly at her side again, Rech couldn't hide his euphoria.
"Mand!"
She gave him a small smile, her words slow and hardly audible. "I knew you'd figure it out... I'm so proud of you both."
Rech choked back a sob. "You knew?"
"I protected the twins from him... I knew he'd come after them. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. You had to do it on your own. And you did."
He laughed in spite of himself. "Barely."
"I had faith in you. In both of you." Her strength rapidly waning, she let go of a weak sigh. "Are the girls okay?"
Tears freely falling, he nodded. "They're beautiful."
Her eyes slowly closed as she stilled. "I'll see them soon."
Though still in complete disbelief, Rech blinked his eyes clear after a moment, and with a calm, even tone, he made a request that would have sounded ridiculous mere minutes earlier.
"Get the critical care team back in here. We still have work to do."
In total shock herself, the only thing Yhren could feel, the only thing she knew for certain was real, was Saross's hand tightly holding hers at her side.