Revan took in a deep breath, the chill of the wintry air stirring her to alertness once more. She looked around the plains, and all she saw was Bastila. She glanced at the younger woman, before continuing to check for hostiles.
She watched, the strange chill that had taken residence on the back of her neck forcing her to keep her eyes open for any attack that might come. Her mind was so focused on finding whatever threat that was out there she didn't hear Bastila speak.
The blademaster searched the snowy environment for any sign of footprints. She looked around, then saw the cloaked figure march forward. The Knight activated her twin sabers, and approached the figure.
Bastila said, "Be careful. You saw what the other one was capable of."
"I know how to fight them now." the older woman replied, marching towards her opponent. It struck, lightning quick again. Even knowing how to face her opponent, Revan was barely able to catch its attack in time.
She dove to the side, as it swung its blade down towards her. She felt the air move behind her as she landed and struck at its hood. It caught her attack with a single gauntleted hand, and pushed the warrior away.
Revan glared at her opponent, and charged, surrounding herself with a storm of snow. As it engulfed the confused entity, she slammed both of her blades into its head. It screeched in pain, but that was quickly silenced as she tore the hood from where its head should have been.
She tossed it aside, and dispersed the Force energy that composed her opponent. She then took a deep breath, and was struck by a large stone. It sent her flying away, and into a nearby rock wall.
The Jedi coughed, gasping for air, as she felt it all forcibly knocked from her lungs. She struggled, only able to take in short, painful breaths against the weight of the stone pinning her to the wall.
She tried to push it away, but it would not budge. She glared at the rock as Bastila pushed it aside with the Force. The Padawan asked, "Are you alright?"
Revan inhaled, letting the air refill her lungs, before saying, "I am. Thanks for the assist."
"What happened there?"
"A big ass rock sent me flying into a wall." Revan said, as she saw the world began to spin. "Oh shit, I've lost a lot of blood." before collapsing into the younger woman.
-=0=-
Revan opened her eyes, and saw herself sitting at a dinner table. On the opposite side was Bastila, smiling at the Knight. Revan looked around an unfamiliar room, and saw a pair of lightsabers mounted on the wall, gathering dust as if they had not been touched in many years.
She looked around, and panic filled her, she didn't understand where she was. The Knight stood up, and Bastila said, "Honey, what's wrong? Why are you getting up in the middle of dinner?"
Revan looked down at the table, her half-finished plate of steak and potatoes before her. The Knight looked at it, and then grasped at her hair, pulling some forward so she could see that it was still blue. She looked around the room, and began to feel worried. She walked towards the closed curtain and opened it. The last little bit of light from outside trickled into the room, revealing to Revan the plains of another farm world.
And, to her distress, vast lands with dozens of different crops. Revan looked at it, and her panic grew greater. Without thinking, she reached for the Force, and could feel a trickle of its power flow into her. It wasn't much, but it was enough for her to summon the lightsabers on her wall. She held them in her hands, drawing comfort from the feel of the cold metal in her hands.
Bastila asked, "What's wrong, Rev? Why'd you get your sabers off the wall?"
The Knight did not respond, but instead, looked at the shades. Looking at the stitching, it was clearly hand made. Too recently to have been imported from another world, no matter how well connected wherever she was happened to be.
She looked around, and said, "Where are we?"
Bastila laughed, and said, "You don't need to joke about not knowing where we are, love. We're on Talravin, as we have been for the last seven years."
Revan took a sharp breath at those words, and said, "Great. This is all just a dream."
"Don't be silly, Rev. We both know this is reality."
Revan sighed, and said, "I wish it were, Bas. But... I know it isn't. This is just a vivid dream. It may be of something I'd love nothing more than to be reality, but... what the fuck is that mandalorian doing on the porch?"
"They won the war. You know this, Rev. Put your sabers back, before they think you're getting any ideas."
"The dream just became a nightmare." Revan sighed, and said, "I'll kill them all."
"Don't be crazy, Rev. They'll tear you apart, just like they nearly did in the war. You agreed to give up fighting, to save yourself. So that we could still be together." Bastila said, placing a hand on Revan's.
The Knight took a deep breath, and said, "No mandalorian can best me." before walking towards the door. Bastila caught by Revan the shoulder, and said, "Honey, you know that you can't. Your wounds from the war... they'll kill you if you try to stand against them."
"This is just a dream. I won't have any negative side effects if I should die in it."
Bastila wrapped her arms around Revan, and pleaded, "Please, don't do this. Things may not be as nice as when the Republic was around, but you don't have to die fighting a war you already lost."
Revan sighed, and said, "You know that even if this were reality I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that the Republic fell to these animals and I was doing nothing to stop them."
"Revan, you'll die! You can barely feel the Force anymore! It's a miracle you were able to pull your sabers to you from the wall."
Revan took a deep breath, and drew deeply on the Force. And then she said, "I'll be fine. Stay inside."
Bastila was shaking, and she said, "Revan... please... don't throw our future away for this."
"It's not throwing away our future." Revan replied, gently slipping out of Bastila's embrace and opening the door. She looked the mandalorians in the eyes, and said, "Are you mandalorians, or Republic personnel disguised as mandalorians?"
"The Republic is dead, Revan. Put away your weapons, as was agreed upon during the treaty that spared your life."
Revan took a deep breath, and said, "There will be no peace so long as there is mandalorian rule of the galaxy." and cut both down with superhuman speed.
She glared at their corpses, and began to run. Dozens of mandalorians began to charge, and then they disappeared, and Revan found herself floating in blackness.
She looked around and knew what had happened. The dream was over. In it she had died. She looked around at the void. She stared into the darkness, waiting for the next dream to come. Then she felt cold.
-=0=-
Revan opened her eyes, to see a concerned Bastila sitting beside her. She felt cold stone against her bare back, and saw her robes on the ground, slightly torn. She looked at it, with curiosity, then realized that she was just in her underwear in front of Bastila.
Blushing a bright red, Revan quickly put on her robes, and asked, "How long was I out for?"
"About an hour and a half. How do you feel?"
"Better. Though really really embarrassed that you saw me mostly naked. Why did you take off my robes?"
"They were soaked in blood, I had no choice."
"Why are they clean now?"
"I was able to melt some snow and use the water to get the blood out. Why did that rock fly into you?"
"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the entity that I dispersed still had enough of a semblance of a mind that it could send it at me."
"So do we continue now, or wait for a bit so your wounds can heal a bit naturally?"
"Every second we waste worrying about me, the more people die. We have to get to the tear. Do you know if there are any more of those things?"
"I don't have a clue. We'll just have to keep going."
-=0=-
"You have repeatedly mentioned that she must come to you. That if she doesn't something terrible will happen. What is it you are afraid will occur if this woman doesn't show up, Jason?"
"We are not merely Jason. We have fought in countless wars. Taken countless lives. Seen the demise of countless innocents. A thousand times have we seen her blades cut down those who she wishes to protect.
"We do not know what it is that will push her to the darkness. We just know that we must warn her. We must tell her of the darkness she will face. Of her true foe, who acts behind the scenes. He cannot be allowed to break free. He must be struck down, like the vermin he is."
"Who is he?"
"You would not know his name, or his appearance. It is critical that we tell her what he truly is. His darkness corrupted our people, and we cannot allow him to corrupt yours. We cannot let him turn your hero into the heart of your society's corruption. We cannot grant him such an advantage."
The doctor sighed, his ramblings had become more and more insane in the past two months. Then, he took a deep breath, and said, "They're quiet, doctor. The voices. I think... they fear what's coming in the next few hours."
She sighed, and asked, "Why do they seem obsessed with this man? They won't say anything about him."
"They fear him." Jason said, before twitching, and going silent, staring at the woman with a foreign stare, as if he had once again lost control of himself.
-=0=-
Revan tossed aside the last fragment of another entity. She examined the snowy landscape, then said, "Those that remain are gathering together. They're getting scared."
"Are you going to be able to take them out? You've been hit a lot." Bastila said, looking at Revan with concern.
"I'll be fine. We can't afford to slow down. The longer we do, the better odds we'll end up walking into a trap."
Bastila nodded. They walked through the frozen plains, until a pair of the Force entities stood in the path. Revan drew her blades, and struck quickly. Her attacks were easily deflected, while the two struck as one.
The Jedi Knight rolled away from the strike, and kicked an opponent's hood away. As it landed on the snow, Revan absorbed the one it had protected. With its power flowing through her, she slammed its entire essence into the one who it had fought beside.
The hood was burned completely away, and Revan drained the last foe. She took a deep breath and then released the energy. Bastila stood there, watching at Revan with fear.
The older woman looked at her, and asked, "What's wrong?"
The Padawan shook, and said, "For a moment there, you were covered in black robes, a cape. And… your sabers turned red."
Revan nodded, and said, "Maybe it's written in stone even though it hasn't come to pass yet."
"What do you mean?"
"I've already seen myself fitting what you described. Fallen. Ruler of the enemy."
"You had visions of yourself as the Dark Lord? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not your problem."
"I'm bound to you by the Force. If you're having visions of something like that, it does concern me."
"Just because it's a vision doesn't mean it is what will come to pass. Kreia always told me that there is almost nothing written in stone before it has actually happened."
"What were those dreams, Rev? The ones that scared you to the point of running away."
"Do you really want to know? Want to hear of the horrible fate my mind cooked up for you while in an addled state?"
"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked."
"Alright, Bas. I'll tell you. The first one… I was Dark Lord and I ritualistically executed you. The second one… I was fighting Marthan. He used you against me, and it ended with us both dead."
"That's it?"
"A synopsis. If I go into the details… it'll shake me up. I don't like to think about those… nightmares. Better that we just not acknowledge their existence."
"Why are you so afraid of something happening to me?"
"If I fully knew the answer, I would know everything there is to know about how my mind works."
"You're lying. You know why."
"I'm not lying. I don't fully know why."
"What is it you don't want to tell me?"
"Bastila, do you trust me?"
"Not after the way you left, no."
Revan sighed, and said, "Bastila, if I'm keeping a secret from you, I have a very good reason for it. The secrets I keep are ones you need to not know. If I could tell you safely, I would."
"You've always said that you shouldn't prioritize safety over everything else."
"Just because it isn't the only thing to worry about doesn't mean it's not the main thing occasionally." Revan replied, glancing at a pair of kath hounds nearby.
The animals growled, but otherwise ignored the humans walking through their territory. The Knight sighed, and Bastila asked, "What's the matter?"
"Those hounds should be attacking. They aren't. That means the situation is worse than I thought."
"I've always thought that kath hounds avoided attacking humans under normal circumstances."
"We're too close to their den for that to matter at the moment. They'd fight to protect their home. Since we're being let through unopposed it can only mean the situation has reached a point where their animal instincts can tell something is wrong, and they think we might be able to fix it."
"How far can we still be?"
"A few miles at most." Revan replied, rubbing her eyes. "But we should find a cave or some other kind of shelter. I'm so tired that going any closer at the moment would be a really bad move. I could make a mistake while we're trying to mend it, or we could get jumped by a pair of those things when I can't fight.
"I don't want to think about what would happen if they managed to kill me. The tear would probably make Dantooine uninhabitable for centuries. Not to mention what the mandalorians might do to the rest of the galaxy if there's no one to take the plunge and tell the Council they're a bunch of idiots for not going and fighting."
"You could try being a little bit more civil when you defy them and go to war."
"At least you aren't trying to talk me out of it."
"It would be a waste of both of our time. You'd probably just tell me I'm a dumb kid who should stick to her books instead of trying to tell someone how to handle a galactic war."
"I'm not that much of a bitch, Bas. I might get a bit irritated that you didn't understand, but I wouldn't go full bitch mode."
"You know you always do go that way, Rev."
Revan laughed, and said, "Name three."
"First off when you learned of the bond. Then there was the way you reacted to Jade. How you left not too long ago. The few days leading up to that point."
Revan nodded, and said, "You make three very valid points."
"Not to mention the way you reacted when I was a bit callous towards how you felt about your past. Though that one was a bit justified."
"Alright, no need to keep beating the dead horse."
Bastila nodded, as Revan walked into a small cave. The Knight used the Force to close the entrance, save for a few gaps to let air in. She said, "Alright, that should keep us secure while I get a few hours rest."
"Do we have any food?"
"Of course." Revan said, pulling some out of a small satchel on her back. "Do you really think that I wouldn't prepare for the eventuality of needing to stop and eat?"
"You do overlook things occasionally."
Revan nodded, and said, "Yes, but never food. When you're fighting things it's never a good idea to forget food beforehand."
Bastila laughed, and said, "Figures you'd be like a fat kid."
"Ouch." Revan said, starting a small fire, using the Force to ignite a few rocks.
-=0=-
Mandalore looked out at his fleet. Everything was progressing as planned, except for one thing. He loooked at the map fragments, and they were still missing pieces. And the previous piece they had found indicated at least one of them was deep in Republic Space, on Dantooine.
Looking at it, he muttered under his breath. Revan would be on Dantooine. There was no way that he could safely go there and recover the fragment. But he also could not trust any of his operatives with the knowledge contained within.
Staring at the fragments, and the dilemma they posed for him, he did not hear two march into the room. He only glanced up when hearing their footsteps draw near. He looked and saw a pair of low-ranking soldiers. He paid them no more attention than he would two Republic 'warriors' when the sound of their blades leaving their scabbards filled his ears.
He looked at them, and said, "That is far enough. Sheath your weapons now and I will forget this clumsy assassination attempt."
They did not comply. Instead, they charged. He shook his head, and motioned for his guard to fire. As heavy blaster bolts pierced their armor, he asked, "Why did you not heed my command?"
One of them closed his eyes and died, before the other said, "Because you're a madman who wants to tear the galaxy to ribbons in a mad quest for glory."
He laughed, and said, "You simply have no vision, if you think that is what I am after." before the second also died. He then ordered his guard to clean up the bodies, while returning to his examination of the map fragments.
Then, he asked, "How long would it take us to conquer Taris, if we turned our attention in that direction?"
Canderous looked up, and asked, "Why would you want to take Taris? It's on the far end of the galaxy from most other important Republic worlds."
"Answer the question, Canderous."
"Approximately six months, Mandalore. Under our current plan it would be approximately sixteen."
"Change the plan. We must take Taris, and draw the Jedi into this conflict."
"As you command, Mandalore."
-=0=-
Revan sighed. The blades in her hands glistening. She looked at them, the cold metal slowly warming in her palms. She looked at them, glancing around at the environment. Scanning for enemies, she walked towards the entrance of the cave.
Bastila stirred and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Opening the way out. You should get ready to move again."
Bastila nodded, and grabbed her lightsaber. As she did so, she felt Revan approach, and sit back down. The Knight closed her eyes, and said, "The tear isn't much further. It'll be faster to go through the other side."
"With what passage?"
"The one left behind, by the two who left their mark on the wall beside the entrance."
"Which wall?" Bastila asked.
"The one on the left when you walk back the way we came."
The Padawan nodded, and walked towards the path. On the wall, so small that it was almost invisible were the words, "The tunnel was a good idea. Cuts the journey time on foot in more than half. But the Focus Point is fragile. At any time the Force there could be torn, then who knows how it would be repaired. Don't try to open it. If anyone sees this, stay away from there. No amount of power is worth what could happen if you make a mistake." and beneath that were three letters. D, Q, S. As if it were signed.
In the center, a hole was now in front of Revan, where a wall had been before. Bastila asked, "Are you sure it's safe? It seems like this Focus Point they mentioned was dangerous."
"At any time the Force there could be torn. We're facing a tear in the Force now. What are the odds that such a place wouldn't be where the tear is coming from? What are the odds that a point where the Force is at its strongest, yet also its most fragile, that it wouldn't be the heart of the tear? We have to risk it. And if it does cut the journey time in more than half going this way... I say it's worth the risk."
"What if we die on our way there."
"The odds are in favor of us dying before we get there either way. Why waste our time worrying about that when it would make more sense to just take a risk and get there faster?"
"Lead the way." Bastila said, "Just don't get us killed."
"So long as there is any way I can prevent our demise I'll do whatever it takes." Revan replies, walking down the corridor.
"Before we went to Cathar, Master Sunrider told me a story. About how you blew up a locker on Coruscant."
Revan smiled sadly, and said, "Of course she did. You want to know the full story?"
"I'd like to hear it."
Revan nodded, "Then let me tell you everything that happened, gorgeous."
-=0=-
I was in my room. When Meetra walked into my room. She sighed, and said, "Revan, you can't keep just staying in here. You'll go mad."
I looked at her, and said, "It isn't safe out there. This temple is full of ambush points that any mandalorian or slaver could take advantage of."
"There aren't any mandalorians or slavers on Coruscant."
"If you aren't cautious then you'll die."
"Revan, you're thirteen years old..." Meetra said, shaking her head, "The only things you should be concerned about right now are Jedi training and guys."
"Or girls like you are? You finally done moping about that?"
"That's a low blow, Tremaine, I wasn't moping. I was freaking out about it."
"Well that's the worst shit you've had to deal with is coming to terms with what you are. I've spent every moment of my new freedom having to fear for my life because at any time mandalorians or slavers could come for my head. The sonofabitch who thought he owned me was very influential. It's a miracle his goons haven't already come after me.
"When I put that round right between his eyes, they probably lost a lot of money. And power. There's nothing that those bastards wouldn't do to get more of those. And nothing they wouldn't do to people who lost it them."
"We're hundreds of lightyears away from those people. They wouldn't bother going so far. It's not like you're making headlines, Tremaine. You're a Padawan, not a public figure that they'd even realize exists."
"I can't take the risk."
Meetra sighed, and said, "Come on. We're leaving this room, and there's nothing you can say or do that will prevent that."
I glared at her, and said, "I could break your neck in six point two seconds if you try to do anything to me."
"You would be immediately put down by the Jedi Council. Exiled from the Order and cut off from the Force."
"You don't know that they'd even learn I was the one to do it. I could easily make you disappear. They all know you've been afraid of a lot of things for a while. They could see that maybe what happened is you decided that you couldn't reconcile being a Jedi and also longing for another woman's touch."
Meetra looked at Revan, and said, "You say that like you have any idea what it's like to be me."
Revan shrugged, and said, "I know exactly how to twist the tale. A young woman who only has just come to terms with her sexuality decides she wants to be allowed to enjoy herself. That she wants to explore the new side she's discovered.
"And that as the Jedi Order is what's stopping her from doing that, she leaves. Never to be seen or heard from again."
"You would really do that, just to ease your paranoia?"
"There's danger everywhere, I'm going to avoid it."
"You can't be crippled by your fear. Or you'll end up how I was. Now come on, follow me." Meetra said.
I sighed, knowing I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't follow. I didn't want to go, and in some ways I wish I still hadn't. That night, as we were walking around and just being normal-ish, Meetra started hitting on a girl her age.
After a while, they started making out... and I was forced to kill the first woman Meetra kissed. Choke her to death with the Force, so as to not draw attention. Turned out she was actually a serial killer. Her knife clattered to the ground, as Meetra turned to me looking pissed.
She saw the blade, and then sighed. Walking away. Not even thanking me.
-=0=-
"Why do you regret going?"
"Because if I hadn't... maybe Meetra wouldn't have gotten into her biggest dump. It sent her further down about liking other girls than ever before. Took her a year and half to recover. And in my eyes it validated my paranoia."
"What kind of serial killer was this girl?"
"She liked girls, but couldn't accept it. She really enjoyed it when she kissed her victims. But... she had to kill them. She felt it justified her indulgences."
Bastila shook her head, and said, "That's absurd."
"Yeah."
-=0=-
Seeing that my locker had been fiddled with, I planted some plastic explosives on it. After I detonated it, from behind a blast shield, a bunch of Jedi came in. Got on my case for being a paranoid nutcase, and walked out the room.
I looked around for a bit, then walked out. I checked with Kreia, learned what it really was. Also heard that Meetra was back to being a recluse as much as possible. I shrugged it off, and went back to my training.
After that, Meetra came up to me. She thanked me for saving her life. And siad that I was still being a bit too paranoid for my own good. She'd heard the explosion, and everyone's reaction.
It took me a few hours, but I eventually... found a place that I could relax.
Then... things happened. A pair of bouncers at a nearby club were beating someone up. I may have been a paranoid nutjob back then. I may have feared any encounter in combat with someone more than twice my size.
But I also hated to see anyone getting hurt. So, I walked towards them. I saw a guy. Not much more than twenty. He was trying to dodge their kicks, but he couldn't evade. Everywhere he rolled there was a foot waiting.
I could see the blood starting to flow. So, I embraced the Force. And I said in the closest thing to an authoritative voice I could muster, "Stop."
They turned their heads, and laughed. I just looked like a kid. They said, "Run along now, little girl. This doesn't concern you."
I replied, "The mutilation of someone who hasn't done something deservant of such punishment is the concern of a Jedi."
They looked surprised that I was a Jedi for a moment, then shrugged and went back to it. I drew my blue sabre, and said, "Stop, this is your final warning."
They looked at me, then laughed. Said no Jedi coward would have the guts to kill someone. Then they talked about a few mandalorians who had fought and killed Jedi.
I lost it, and charged. I wasn't as strong, fast, or skilled back then. But it was still more than they could handle. They were dead before they had a chance to react.
I severed the first one's head, cleaved it in a single motion. I turned to the other one, kicking him in the stomach with all my might, amplified by a push concentrated on that point.
He went flying, and before he could even realize what had happened a moment before, my sabre pierced his skull.
When he landed, my blade returning to my hand, I said, "Why were they fucking you up like that?"
"I bought the wrong girl a drink." he replied, limping away.
At the same time, Meetra came out of the darkness, and said, "How can you kill them so goddamn easily?"
"Because the galaxy's a better place without them." I replied, "You're just a kid, though. You wouldn't understand it."
"I'm older than you are."
"True. But you're also still a kid. I was forced to become older faster than anyone should be."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because there isn't any way in hell that I'm just a kid anymore." I replied, looking at the stars. "You should head back to the temple. I can feel how messed up you are right now. And with how I don't give a fuck, it means that you're really fucked up. Stay out like this and you could trip off the side of a building."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Revan."
"Anytime." I replied, smirking, walking away, "And, you're fifteen now. You've got plenty of time to come to terms with who you are.
"That girl who tried to kill you... she probably just hated what she was. She probably felt that killing girls who liked what she did made it okay to accept her desires for a moment."
Meetra laughed, and asked, "What happened to make you a psychiatrist?"
I shook my head, and said, "I'm not. But I don't want anyone else to end up like me." before leaving that place.
-=0=-
Bastila nodded, and said, "It's hard to imagine Meetra ever having not been how she is these days."
"That's how it is for people who didn't know her in the past." Revan said, as they walked out of the tunnel.
They looked at the area around them, and laid eyes on the tear. A jagged opening in the very fabric of reality, surrounded by a strange calm. Revan said, "Looks like we've reached our destination."
-=0=-
A/N: Terribly sorry about the wait on this one. I kept trying to write, and drew blanks on what to do. Now I've got everything figured out, should be a bit quicker. Anyways, thanks for reading, and please leave a review.
