"I hate Ewoks," Ana grumbled to herself as the little teddy bears began to braid her red hair on her shoulders. The two, tiny fuzzballs chattered between each other with a noise reminiscent of chirping birds. The tiny paws of the creatures dragged across her face as the rest of the crew laughed.
Ana shook her head, causing the braids to collide with the creatures she carried. One of the Ewoks on her shoulder chattered angrily at her as her red hair slapped into its face. "Jeez, sorry," she apologized to the furry creature. She seemed almost scared of the miniscule fuzzballs, drawing even more laughter from Revan, Rhen, and Van. If there were not child-sized bears on her shoulders, she would have glared at them.
"Why are all of you laughing?" the protocol droid asked them. The group had rented the silver-plated droid at the camp where they had landed, the only one on the moon. The annoyed droid's "skin" glistened in the light that filtered in through the towering trees. Van laughed at the question, and ignored the droid.
"She's... ah, hanging out with Ewoks on her shoulders kind of doesn't fit with the Ana we know," Revan supplied.
"Indeed," Rhen said with a smile. "I'd expect it to go over your head, though."
"Hmph," the droid scoffed, completely offended. Van laughed even harder at the droid's response, and the robot began to walk as fast as it stiff legs could carry it.
Revan watched the droid go, then turned to Rhen. Smiling, he said, "It's nice. Hanging out with you again."
The twi'lek turned to Revan as well, his face stony. "I am not your friend right now, Th- Revan," Rhen stated. He looked forward again, forcing himself to not even glance at his former friend out of the corner of his eye. "To be your friend is to endure endless pain. I need to stay apart – I need to be able to watch you."
"I'm not going to do anything," Revan snapped. He sighed. "Sorry, it's just -"
"Just what?!" the twi'lek asked. His head snapped towards Revan, and their gazes met. The twi'lek's blue eyes were icy, full of disappointment and disapproval. "You don't want to be treated like you're dangerous? Like you almost killed all of us?"
Revan stopped moving, and stared his one-time best friend – brother, almost – in his icy eyes. The twi'lek stopped as well; the rest of the group continued walking. "What? You just thought it would all go back to normal. Throw on a new name, some new clothes and suddenly you're a new man. That's not how it works, Revan. Even the name you chose – you chose this name, Revan. A legacy of a Sith. That was not his name – not his true one. He was Darth Revan, Revan the Conqueror. Darth Revan, destroyer of the Mandalorians. His titles only get worse from there, and that's all we really know about him anymore. His titles and a few battles; his real name is gone. And now you relate yourself to that," Rhen spat. He shook his head, disgusted with the sight before him. "I work with you because your friends wanted you to be released."
"So you're not my friend, then? What did you want?" Revan asked. His gaze drifted to the mask magnetically attached to Rhen's belt. "Did you propose these... limitations on my freedom?"
Rhen scoffed and walked away. Revan growled, and stepped forward. He grabbed the Jedi's shoulder with one hand. "Answer me!" he shouted.
The twi'lek turned around. "I recommended your indefinite incarceration, Revan." The Jedi stared into Revan's eyes for a moment, the truth gazing clearly from his icy eyes. Then he turned to catch up with the rest of the group. Revan stared at his friend walking through the underbrush and felt his heart fall through his stomach. He pulled up his hood sadly and walked slowly forward; he left a distance between himself and the others, eventually becoming engrossed in his thoughts.
His mind drifted back to his dream, no matter how much he tried to avoid it. The red of his lightsaber flashed through his mind, the blade carving through the... the aliens. "Rakata," Revan mumbled to himself. The word seemed to fill his core being with dread, despair, and fear. He interlocked his fingers behind his head and stared up at the ceiling of leaves far above. "What are the Rakata?" He shook his head. There was nothing in any Galactic Database about the Rakata, aside from a few vague mentions of the name. All of those notes – no more than a few words – were attached to Jedi, Sith, and soldiers from Darth Revan's era and just after. Most of them were connected to the few facts known about the first Revan himself.
The new Revan stared at his shipmates who walked ahead of him, and his mind shifted to one of those precious few mentions of the Rakata. "The man once known as Darth Revan attacked the Republic using limitless, ancient technology created by an ancient race. He would later claim that these creators – or Builders, as their creations referred to them – were called the Rakata and that they had once created a Dark Side Empire they claimed to be 'Infinite and Unending' more than five thousand years before the creation of the Republic. They have not been seen since, and it is believed by many that they are extinct." That was it – about the Rakata and the first Revan.
Revan shuddered as the last sentence of the Old Republic's report ran through his mind. "'Extinct...' I hope so," he muttered as a shiver ran up his spine. He took his saber from his belt – the air was filled with the warring energies of the Dark and Light sides of the Force.
"Weapons down, Revan," Rhen commanded. The young man glared at the twi'lek, but did as he was commanded. Another limitation imposed on Revan's freedom was his placement on the command structure of the squad, square at the bottom of the totem pole. If the other three could not agree, then, and only then, would Revan be allowed to make any choices. "The Ewoks claim this is Sacred Land. We don't want to go upsetting the race that helped bring the Empire to its knees."
"Yeah, yeah," the Imperial Knight grumbled. "Don't keep bringing that up." Ana crossed her arms and continued muttering under her breath.
Revan stared at the young woman who continued to have her hair braided, in increasingly complex designs, by the Ewoks. "Seems like the Empire can't shake its worst weakness – cute and overly fluffy primitives."
"Say it again, pretty-boy," Ana glowered. Revan raised his hands defensively, then laughed. "What?"
"Well, what are you going to do?" Revan joked. "The Ewoks have already beaten you."
"Oh, you're a dead man," Ana said. She glared at Revan, but her eyes were filled with laughter. Revan smiled at the woman, and she smiled back. "Eh, maybe not. All the trouble I've gone through to keep you alive so far? Don't want to waste that."
"Only reason?" he joked.
Before Ana could respond, Rhen cut in. "If you two are done flirting, can we get down to business, perhaps?"
"I'd prefer the flirting," Revan said.
"Yeah," Ana agreed.
"Honestly, it would probably be better than fighting whatever Jedi-Sith crap there is out here," Van pointed out.
"You too?" Rhen asked exasperatedly.
"What? I'm a guy with two blasters fighting ghosts and nearly-immortal Jedi and Sith. Lots and lots of Sith. The flirting – while excessively saccharine – is safe. I like safe."
"Lazy bum," Rhen growled.
"Eh, lazy is fine. I like lazy. Lazy is booze and women. Lazy's fun," Van responded. This only received a deadly glare from Rhen. "Or not. Lazy and flirting: bad. Hard work and death: good." The glare continued. "What? I'm agreeing with you, isn't that what you want?"
Rhen glared at the twi'lek for a few more moments. "Tendee," he said to the protocol droid, "can you ask them, again, how long until we reach the pyre site?"
The droid nodded and spoke to the Ewoks in their chirping, annoying language. Finally. "Master, they said they do not know. This area has been abandoned for almost one hundred and fifty years, they say the gods visit and that land is not for the Ewoks. No Ewok knows where the funeral site is, only that it is... in this area. The sky people – you – can risk the gods' wrath if you so desire, but this is where the Ewoks will wait for you. Personally, I want to wait too. None of that excitement for me."
"Faithful droid you got," Revan drawled. Rhen shot the human a glare. "Know what? I'll make a better one, someday. Sarcastic, and a good fighter. Rust red – Hm... nah, doesn't sound that scary. Durasteel gray, that's where it's at."
Oh, Force, if HK could hear you now... 'Statement: Meatbag, you are obviously insane and only pain will correct that meatbag insanity. MEATBAGS!' … Maybe I didn't say 'Meatbag' enough.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Ana asked. Revan watched her shrug her shoulders joyfully. She was very happy to be free of the Ewoks.
"Oh, right, you're an Imperial," Van said. He lightly slammed his palm into his forehead. The pilot took on a mocking grin. "Duh. I'm guessing Endor isn't the biggest tourist destination for you guys, between the beating your ancestors took here... and the scawy Ewoks."
"I will kill you," Ana said, her voice even. Van blinked and coughed nervously. "Continue."
"Shortly after the destruction of the second Death Star, the heroes of the Rebellion assembled here to remember the life of a Jedi just redeemed. The Ewoks had a village out here, then. It's where Grandmaster Luke Skywalker, Master Leia Solo, and General Han Solo gave Anakin Skywalker the burial he deserved, simultaneously setting the Jedi's spirit free and burning away the remains of the Sith Lord who had terrorized the galaxy for decades," Rhen explained. He jumped lightly over a large, twisted root on the ground and continued walking. "Over time, the Ewoks abandoned the village, like Tendee said. No one's been there in over a hundred years, and the surviving maps to the funeral pyre are... inexact."
Revan half-listened to the background information that Rhen was giving. Really, the young man's attention was in his own mind, wondering just who he was. A cold noise cut through his nebulous thoughts a moment later, a grating intake of air. The noise echoed through the forest, breaths of a life support system that was barely keeping its master alive. Revan pulled his saber from his hip and looked around wildly. "Where are you, Vader?" Revan asked. He gripped his saber before him in both hands, fear keeping his grip like a vice on the silver cylinder.
The only response to Revan's question was the same rasping, pained breathing. "Guys, I hear him!" Revan shouted. No response. "Guys?" The young man turned around and saw that his crew was gone. "Kark!" The breathing grew louder, quicker, more insistent and insidious.
Snap-hiss.
Revan raised his lightsaber, the combination of fear and determined courage creating a potent cocktail of adrenaline in his brain that seemed to slow the world around him down. There was a loud crack behind Revan, and he turned. His blade arced white light through the forest air as he spun on his heel and prepared to defend against an opponent that outclassed him in every way. Instead, Revan was greeted by an eight year old boy in a brown and sand colored tunic.
"Heya!" the kid said, grinning. He stared at Revan's lightsaber. "Wizard..."
Revan closed his eyes and groaned: what had he just gotten into? "Kid, what's your name? How'd you get out here?" Revan opened his eyes and began to look around wildly; the kid was gone. "I lost an eight year old on Endor?! Some karking hero I am!"
SWSWSWSWSW
"Okay, so where the hell is he?" Ana asked. Her crossed arms and narrow eyes communicated an intense determination and anger.
"What, you think I know?" Rhen asked, a slight undercurrent of venom ran through his voice. "If anyone knows, it's the woman who helped him get away!"
"That's not what happened and you know it!" Ana shouted back. She walked towards the twi'lek and shoved him away.
"Oh, really?" Rhen asked coldly. Van could tell the twi'lek had left out the 'schutta' that was laying on the tip of his tongue.
"You know she didn't help Revan run – I doubt he would even want to," Van said before Ana and Rhen could begin screaming at each other. The two turned to the pilot in astonishment. "Look, sure he doesn't like being controlled or taking orders, even from you, Rhen – "
"You're not helping his case," Rhen snarled.
"If he left, would you forgive him, or would just be even angrier with him?" Van asked simply. The twi'lek fidgeted uncomfortably at the human's question. "Just what I thought. Leaving would destroy any chance of you two being friends again."
"There is no chance," Rhen hissed. "It would be too dangerous for the galaxy for us not to observe him objectively."
"Still – what's important is that he believes there is a chance. He wants you to be his friend again, he wants you to trust him like he trusts you. It's why he gave you the mask, of all the people here. It's the only way he can see to fix things," Van explained. He shook his head. "Something must have happened to him that we didn't see."
"Fine – if he's stuck in something bad, he'll need the mask," Rhen said. He glared at the other two. "And I don't trust that either of you will act objectively." The Jedi turned on his heel and trudged through the planetary forest, his saber cutting through the matching viridian brush around him.
Ana and Van watched the Jedi march away, both full of dissatisfaction with the way the world was turning out. "When did our friendships become problems for the galaxy?" Van asked the woman.
She looked over at her crewmate. "Are they?"
Van sighed and shook his head. "It depends, doesn't it? Would we have seen the signs if we'd stayed apart from Revan? Or was his relationships with us – you – the only reason he came back?" The pilot groaned and leaned against a tree. He crossed his legs at the ankle, the toes of one of his boots perpendicular to the ground. He burrowed his foot into the dirt beneath his feet and stared at a line of ants crawling around his boots. "I don't know, Ana. I'm not even sure what I believe."
"I understand," Ana comforted.
Van laughed harshly and stared Ana in the eyes. "No, you really don't. I'm a normal person, no Jedi powers or Sith mask. All that I have is a pair of blasters coupled with a stupidly snarky attitude – the combination of which is terrible against Sith and ghosts and... Force knows what else."
Ana listened silently as Van continued. "But you guys – you and Rhen – don't understand. Revan... somehow, he gets it. I can see it in his eyes, especially now. He's scared and he doesn't know what's coming around the next corner. I see that look every time I look in a mirror, Ana, and Revan has it worse than me. He thinks something's coming, and none of us have any hope of understanding what, except him. But what we did to him, making him question his sanity... I'm afraid it's destroyed him."
"Are you done?" a third voice asked. Ana and Van both turned in surprise to see a young man dressed in black and brown robes staring at them with a bemused expression on his face. A long scar ran across the man's right eye and served to intensify the focused power behind his gaze. A silver and black cylinder hung from his hip."Who are you?"
Ana drew her lightsabers in surprise, and Van quickly followed suit with his pistols. "A Jedi?" the man asked. He shrugged. "Me, too."
Ana chuckled. "Not quite," she said. She, friendly, deactivated her sabers and let them hang at her sides.
"So you're a Sith," the young man said. He drew his saber and a beam of bright, blue-white light erupted into being. Ana immediately knew she was outclassed. The man rushed towards her and Van; she shoved the pilot out of the blue light's path and jumped away as quickly as she could. She rolled to her feet quickly and pointed her sabers towards the tree the man had cut into. The man was gone.
"Where'd he go?" Ana asked. She stood up cautiously and walked over to Van.
"Beats me – but we'd better find Rhen and Revan," Van grunted as Ana helped pull him to his feet. He brought his blasters up to a ready position. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
SWSWSWSWSW
Rhen's fingers clawed at the invisible fist that clutched his throat with a grip of Mandalorian Iron. He struggled to intake any air he could, even if it meant only a moment more of consciousness and life. Rhen's feet dangled and he felt his toes drag across the dirt of the forest moon.
Rhen's attacker didn't seem to be in any better shape; the man took a deep, shaky breath that sounded like more pain than it was worth. In and out, every breath of the attacker was hidden behind the noise of a respirator that struggled to filter the air. "Do not struggle, Jedi," the man's deep voice came. Rhen stared in horror as his attacker walked slowly from the shadows, clad in fiberglass armor the color of night. "You only prolong the inevitable."
Rhen's vision began to go dark, and his hands slipped weakly to his side. His will was sapped, his doom sealed at the hands of one of the most powerful Sith to ever live.
Darth Vader squeezed the last bit of consciousness from the Jedi and let the twi'lek collapse. The Sith stood with the broken Jedi at his feet and breathed in painfully. He sensed, not too far away, two more Force signatures. One was... familiar. All the Jedi he had known were long dead, however. This signature reminded him, somehow, of himself. Vader gripped the twi'lek with the Force and threw the body over his armored shoulder. Vader's robotic limbs whirred and whined from the action, a constant reminder of his losses. "You will make a fine trap, Jedi," the Dark Lord remarked to his captive. Vader stalked the scent of his new prey, and carried his prisoner into the darkness of the forest.